‘He’s the third child’
“So when my father was coming, there were bodyguards everywhere. But I waited for him to go upstage before I went to try and greet him.
“But when I tried to go to the stage, I was turned back by his wife, Alhaja Shade Okoya. I was turned back by her, that I cannot go and see my father like that, that they have to inform him before I go and see him.”
“He saw me and he knew it was me, but Alhaja Chief Shade had already made the decision that I should turn back.”
That was the distraught Mr Fatai Okoya who claimed to be first son of the multi-bilionaire industrialist, Alhaji Rasak Okoya.
The 66-year old was recently spotted on social media, grieving over his long strained relationship with his father and his futile efforts to a reconciliation, allegedly involving friends of his father.
He stated that his father kicked against his choice of wife on his return to Nigeria from the UK where he had lived and studied for nine years, hence the crack in their father-son bond.
“They did their best to make sure that this matter was in order. But everything, only for some while, everything just went haywire,” he confirmed.
Explaining why he defied his father, he said, “You know, youth, and for those of us who have stayed abroad, the love is already deep. I think that is where I fell into her trap.”
He added, “I did not embezzle money. Because if I embezzled money, I would build houses and buy an aeroplane. I’m begging my father. To err is human, to forgive is divine. He should please overlook all my behaviour then as a child. He should please see that I, too, am a grown man. He should use his elderly wisdom to embrace us and bring us back to the family so that the issue can be settled once and for all.”
While anxious public were expecting his 49-year old step-mother’s response, an official statement was instead released on behalf of the family expressing regret by the development.
Contrary to Okoya’s claim, the statement clarified that he is the third child of his father and described his act as an effort to seek public sympathy and discredit the family.
The statement, issued on Thursday and signed by Senior Public Relations Manager of the Eleganza Industry Ltd, Mr Nathaniel Omonenwon, admitted that Fatai “had fallen out with his father and stopped coming to see him long before his father’s marriage to Chief Mrs. Shade Okoya, MON.”
Adding, the statement revealed, “Aare Rasaq Okoya, CON has also publicly stated on numerous occasions that any child of his who is not prepared to respect, appreciate and abide by his wishes is on his or her own.”
Like other members of the family, Fatai is said to have also benefited from his father till date, disclosing “he lives in, and has been given, four flats by his father in Ogunlana Surulere, and has at times been receiving payment for his medical bills.”
The statement also confirmed past efforts at reconciliation by those it called ‘four very highly placed family friends”.
Leave a Reply