● Accusations flew, but none stuck: A closer look at the man who wouldn’t vanish
● Declares involvement with Adaobi Alagwu as darkest detour of his life
● From Skye Bank scandal to silent boardroom conquest: The making of a new Ayeni

Amid the chiaroscuro of Nigeria’s economic theatre, Tunde Ayeni—lawyer, businessman and once-golden boy of Nigeria’s financial sector—has chosen to speak, not in numbers or corporate gloss, but in the raw cadence of hope and a tinge of regret. Where fortunes rise like dust and collapse like fables, Ayeni reemerges, not as a ghost of scandal, but as a man reborn through fire. A risk-taker baptized in boardroom wars, Ayeni’s name once danced across headlines for a myriad of reasons. But beyond the sensational tabloids, there always lived a man of vision—flawed, misunderstood, yet fiercely resolute in his belief that enterprise is the most enduring expression of faith. In this chat with LANRE ALFRED, Ayeni did not ask to be pitied or praised. He speaks instead with the poise of a man who has walked through distortion’s flame and came out singed, but not silenced.

The Storm-Rider
Interestingly, this is not a story of heartbreak. It is the rising arc of a man reclaiming not just property or public sympathy, but vision, will, and the future he once paused to grieve.

Whatever anyone thinks, Businessman Tunde Ayeni has earned his repute. Like an indefatigable mariner, he rode the storms and tumult of industry till he chanced on pliant waters. His unyielding spirit certainly paid off; it has seen him through the teething and oft-tumultuous phases of enterprise. He survived the ravage of false starts and defeat, keeping faith in his capacity to triumph. The man who burnished his spunk through commerce’s brutish straits has emerged as one of the most perceptive juggernauts in Nigeria’s business sector.

Enterprise knows Ayeni by heart and vice versa. Perhaps because it is his uttermost passion. Yet the imagery you see when he is mentioned hardly depicts his complete genius. Still, you get a feel of his lambent intellect and the fortune it summons.
If you ask, he will tell you that enterprise is the soil in which genius is planted; at its core, creativity grows, and legends bloom. Faith in oneself, Ayeni would argue, is the rain that cultivates a hero to endure the storm, and bare the genesis of a new world and new frontiers of success.

“Let the record show,” said Ayeni, between the lines, “that I am not what they painted.” Once cast in a harsh, controversial silhouette, the billionaire magnate is set on the path of renaissance; one anchored in depth, greater purpose and permanence. The empire he now dreams of is not driven by noise, but by necessity: ethical, enduring institutions meant to outlive rumour and outlast those who once misread him. If the past must be acknowledged, let it be only in passing—for Ayeni has long turned the page. “I am not what they painted,” he reiterated. And this time, he is writing his own portrait.

Yes, Ayeni is building again. But this time, not just towers of profit or partnerships with fleeting shelf lives. This time, the billionaire mogul with vast stakes in banking, energy, security, telecoms and infrastructure, is intent on building permanence: structures of steel and ethos that will outlive gossip and endure beyond the news cycle. He dreams of institutions that are ethical, rooted in national renewal, and immune to the virus of cheap sabotage. And yes, in a fleeting detour, he spoke briefly of Adaobi Alagwu. “Meeting her,” he confessed with a shrug weighted by grace, “was one of the greatest mistakes of my life.” But he does not dwell there. That story, he insisted, has been “mercifully closed.”

Not a few people mistake him for the ghost of a fallen empire, a relic of a collapsed bank. But Ayeni is no ghost. Call him “Mr Renaissance” – a businessman whose story was never truly told, whose fall was overstated, and whose rise remains one of Nigeria’s most compelling chronicles of grace under siege.

There is no gainsaying Ayeni flowered amid a storm of intrigues; where men are swiftly mythologised and then mercilessly maligned, he stands as both legend and lesson. His name, once synonymous with the heights of banking and telecommunications, was dragged into the gutters of gossip and misrepresentation. For a season, Nigeria mistook the silhouette of a scandal for the sum of a man. But Ayeni’s real story begins long before the cameras clicked and long after the headlines faded. It starts in Kaduna, in the dusty corridors of Army Children’s School, and winds through Yola and Zaria, where a young Ayeni studied Law not as an escape from hardship, but as a blueprint for a prosperous future.

From Ahmadu Bello University to the Nigerian Law School, and later an LLM at the University of Lagos, Ayeni carved for himself a path few could walk—lawyer, entrepreneur, dealmaker, capitalist in the truest, most unromantic sense. “I’ve always been a lawyer first,” he said. “But I learned early that law alone doesn’t build nations. Capital does.”

Thus, long before Skye Bank ever bore his signature, Ayeni had begun experimenting with capital and courage. His earliest ventures were seeded by the mentorship of Mr. Rodney Hecksher, an Irish-Nigerian businessman who opened his eyes to the mechanics of commerce. He wasn’t just learning law, Ayeni recalled. He was learning leverage.

That education birthed Bond Bank, which would later merge into the larger institution known as Skye Bank, one of the most significant consolidations of the mid-2000s. Ayeni’s fingerprints were all over its rise, though he never assumed an executive position. “I’ve never worked in a bank as staff,” he noted. “I was a non-executive board member and later, chairman. That distinction matters.”

Yet when the Central Bank wielded its axe in 2016, and Skye Bank’s licence was withdrawn, Ayeni found himself branded a villain of the story. “But the bank didn’t fail because of mismanagement,” he insists. “It failed because the licence was taken. The reasons are political, layered, and, frankly, not yet ready for public consumption.”

The narrative was swift and brutal—businessman turned scapegoat. Suddenly, Ayeni was everywhere but understood nowhere. Social media buzzed with innuendo. Regulatory bodies raised questions. Envy danced with half-truths, painting him as a casualty of excess.
But inside the man, there was neither ruin nor retreat, only recalibration. Yet, in the public imagination, Ayeni is still bound to the ghost of Skye Bank, once a towering institution that crumbled under regulatory pressure. He doesn’t deny the pain of that chapter, but he disputes the widely circulated assumptions about his culpability.

Truth stranger than fiction…
The truth about Skye Bank’s fall is more political than procedural, he asserted. “Very soon, I will tell the full story. But for now, let it be known: the bank did not fail because it was mismanaged. The license was withdrawn. That’s all.”

As chairman, he insisted he had no executive role in loan disbursements or operational decisions. Most failures in Nigeria’s financial institutions stem from poor governance and corporate deceit, he said. According to him, he has seen a credit that was designed for real estate investment, but was made to look like it is a credit for an oil and gas business. And they—non-executive directors—were none the wiser.

Despite public scrutiny and regulatory harassment, Ayeni has emerged from that episode with his entrepreneurial fire intact. He can still feed his family, he said. “I’ve never held a government position. Everything I own, I earned by the grace of God and through legitimate means.”

In the years since Skye Bank’s demise, Ayeni has survived and evolved. He returned to his legal practice with renewed intensity, reopened his law offices in Lagos and Abuja, and diversified his portfolio with strategic subtlety. Today, he is involved in infrastructure, oil and gas services, capital advisory, and increasingly, technology investments. His focus? Stability over sensation. Quiet impact over noisy return.
“I’m not building castles in the air,” he said. “I’m planting institutions that can’t be tweeted out of existence.”

At the core of his philosophy is a new kind of ambition, not for visibility, but for value. “Nigeria doesn’t need more noise,” he said. “It needs men who can build in silence and let their results do the shouting.” In private, Ayeni mentors a cohort of young entrepreneurs, instilling in them the hard truths of cash flow, patience, and prudence. “I tell them: there’s no shortcut that won’t backfire. If it’s fast and easy, it’s not wealth. It’s bait.”

His investments are leaner now, his partnerships more selective. Gone are the days of boardroom grandiosity. In its place: discipline, structure, legacy.

The shallowness of tabloid impressions
Yet, the Tunde Ayeni the tabloids captured is but a shallow sketch. Yes, he had encounters with the EFCC. Yes, he was investigated. But his version is sobering: “I’ve never held a government office. I’ve never been a political appointee. I’ve never laundered money. What I own, I can explain—line by line, deal by deal.”

Indeed, no assets were seized. No convictions were recorded. The brush with regulatory agencies, Ayeni argues, came with the territory of high finance in a low-trust environment. “When you’re at the top of the capital food chain in Nigeria, someone is always watching with a file and a rumour,” he said.

But perhaps his greatest frustration was the misrepresentation of his essence. “I am not what they painted,” he said. “I’m not reckless. I’m not arrogant. I’ve made mistakes, yes. But my life is not a headline, it is a book. And they read only the scandalous chapter.”

In conversation, Ayeni is measured, thoughtful, sometimes wistful. He speaks not like a tycoon defending his empire but like a man relieved to have survived it. “The business world isn’t glamorous,” he said. “It’s brutal, bloody, and lonely. But if you last, you earn clarity. And clarity is more precious than wealth.”

Yet even a man of steel can be pierced. For Ayeni, the personal storm arrived wearing a smile. It is no longer a saga he wishes to relive, but he admits that his entanglement with Adaobi Alagwu remains a personal nadir. “She represents a season of blindness,” he said. “And like all blindness, it cost more than I realised.”

Ayeni said, “Let it be known, once and for all,” he declared, “that I was never married to Adaobi Alagwu in any true, legal, cultural, or moral sense. That story, that illusion, has been allowed to fester for too long, and I will no longer dignify it with silence.” He dismissed claims that he is being pressured by his wife, business associates, or friends to publicly disown Alagwu or the child she claims he fathered. “No one is pushing me. No one has ever pushed me. This is not about external influence, it is about truth and closure,” he said, his voice a blend of steel and restraint.

“I will never accept Adaobi’s daughter, today, tomorrow, or forever. She’s not my child. I only have three children, and they are known, loved, and acknowledged by me,” Ayeni stated, unflinchingly. “It’s sad that I must address something so deeply personal in public, but I cannot continue to be shackled by rumours built on fiction. This is about safeguarding my name, my children’s legacy, and the truth that outlives noise.” With that, Ayeni closed the door on yet another ghost from a past he insists no longer defines him. What lies ahead, he affirms, is clarity, and the undistracted pursuit of a future crafted in peace, integrity, and purpose.

Their connection—once private—exploded into public acrimony. Accusations. Legal threats. Property disputes. Paternity tests. And finally, the court ruling: there was no marriage, no child, no truth to her claims. “I regret ever meeting her,” Ayeni said plainly, not out of anger, but from the deep sadness of misjudgment.

Cutting losses and moving on
For a man who once helmed one of Nigeria’s most prominent banks, Ayeni is not unfamiliar with high-stakes losses. But none, he claims, have wounded his spirit as deeply as his entanglement with Adaobi Alagwu. In his own words, their relationship—if it could be called that—was choreographed by deceit.

The ending came not with fanfare but with legal finality. “As we speak, the Magistrate Court in Dawaki, Abuja, on March 11th, 2025, ruled to the effect that there was no marital affair between the lady and me, and that I am not responsible for her child. In any case, I was never the father; the child is not mine, and her desperation to pin the child on me goes to show the level of her classlessness. It is, therefore, clear that the episode has ended,” Ayeni revealed.

The marriage, or what the world imagined as one, is no more, he stressed. “It was never a proper marriage to begin with, and now it has been formally dissolved in the presence of our attorneys and family representatives.” This final stroke of closure comes after months of legal turbulence and personal anguish. The Magistrate Court in Dawaki, Abuja, on March 11th, 2025, ruled emphatically that there was no legal marriage between the two and that Ayeni was not the father of the child Alagwu claimed as his.

“When people refer to her as my ex-mistress, I hate hearing it because it’s one of the darkest moments of my life. I regret ever meeting that lady,” he said. “Initially, I was trying to manage the entire episode to protect my family, reputation, and legacy, but it quickly became obvious to me that I was dealing with a lowlife who would go to any length to take advantage of and blackmail me with the support of her family,” said Ayeni.

Reacting to conflicting narratives suggesting that despite his categorical denials, he continued to visit Alagwu and the child in question, Ayeni was blunt in his response: “No, that’s behind me. Perhaps once, when I was trying to manage her, to prevent her from going to the streets . But not anymore. I’ve truly moved on from that ill-fated relationship, and it’s important for her to understand and respect that decision.” For Ayeni, such insinuations only serve to distract from his current focus—retrieving what is lawfully his and preserving the dignity of his legacy. “If she has any evidence that I still come around, let her publish it. I’ve made my position clear in the courts, in the media, and in every private conversation: I want no part in that chapter of my life. It would be silly of her to keep engaging me after all this.”

For someone like him, who often avoids social media drama because of the reputational fallout it raises for local and international business, he said, he did not want anything that could negatively affect his image when checks are being cleared out. “Unfortunately, characters like this lady know this and take advantage of it, believing that people like me cannot come out like them on social media platforms. However, sometimes, it gets to a point where, as a man, you have to come out and fight your battle, and that’s exactly what I had to do, and it’s what I’m still doing. Like I said earlier, it’s a regrettable episode for me, and I never wish such for even my enemy.

“It’s all behind me now,” Ayeni said, his voice steady, yet laced with the weary poise of a man who has walked through the fire and came out scorched but standing. Today, two properties once occupied by her and her mother are subjects of recovery proceedings. For Ayeni, it is no longer about possession but closure. “She’s a footnote in my story,” he said. “One I’ve turned the page on.”

Having closed the tumultuous chapter with Alagwu, Ayeni now finds himself confronting another unwelcome distraction steeped in the grime of alleged betrayal. In a petition dated June 13, 2025, Ayeni formally called on the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to investigate a socialite, Gail Fajembola, for what he describes as a calculated and sustained fraud involving his property.

According to Ayeni, the luxury apartment located at K9-2, Ocean Parade, Banana Island, was offered to Ms. Fajembola strictly on compassionate grounds. “It is important to emphasize,” he said, “that I initially permitted Fajembola to temporarily reside in the apartment strictly on humanitarian grounds based on her pleas of homelessness at the time. This act of kindness by me was never intended to confer tenancy rights or authority to sublet on her.” Yet, without his knowledge or consent, he stressed, Fajembola, through her company, GIF Energy Resources Limited, allegedly leased out the apartment for over three years, amassing rental income estimated to exceed ₦100 million.

She has continuously collected rent on the apartment for over three years, despite having no legal right, title or authority over the property. This fraudulent conversion has caused me significant financial loss and reputational damage, said Ayeni. For Ayeni, the pursuit is not just about restitution, but reputation. He is intent on silencing every lie, correcting every shadow, and reclaiming every inch of truth, one fact at a time.

Indeed, what the world doesn’t see is the man who wakes at dawn to pray, reads legal briefs before breakfast, and holds meetings with his children to discuss succession plans. What they don’t print are the charities he funds quietly, the startups he backs anonymously, the dreams he waters from behind the curtain. Tunde Ayeni has come full circle, not to the brash peaks of high finance, but to a deeper summit: self-knowledge, legacy, and liberation from noise. He is not who they said he was. He never was. He is, at last, who he chooses to be.

Philosophy
Virtues, according to him, should be, in the popular estimate, the rule guiding human conduct in business, social and political circuits rather than the exception. “A man is nothing without his virtues”, he argues. Thus he endeavours to do good. While many rich men propagate virtues as penances for the inaction of the world’s privileged divide, Ayeni imbibes and perpetuates the culture of goodness out of an intrinsic part of his manliness.

Reports abound that despite his large heart, he has suffered untold betrayal by friends and staff.