Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State took time out of his busy schedule over the weekend to secretly attend the 50th birthday party of Abuja based businesswoman, Aisha Achimugu.

Aisha, a widow who lost her husband, Suleiman Achimugu to Coronavirus in 2020, is the founder and managing director of Abuja-based Felak Concept Group, a company that is into consultancy services related to health, equipment procurement, training and capacity building. She’s also a director in Altex Engineering Oil & Gas Limited and had also made her mark in maritime and transportation engineering. She is the first woman transaction advisor/consultant to develop a seaport (Ibaka Seaport) in Nigeria.

Aisha chose to celebrate her birthday in Grenada after attaining Grenadian Citizenship by investment.

The venue was at Calivigny Island, Caribbean Island of Grenada, on an 80-acre private and exquisite location which costs about $132,000 per night.

This was as the Mandilas building, a 10-storey building in Lagos, housing shops where different kinds of wares are sold burned on 21 January and many Lagosians remained overburdened by poverty and insecurity.

Sanwo-Olu reportedly flew in a private aircraft to the Carribean Island and took residency in one of the most expensive resorts in the world.

Many officials of his government did not know his whereabouts for days, with some saying he was attending an official engagement in London and others simply telling saying he was travelling abroad.

It remains unclear as of the time of this report why the governor left his duty post in Lagos, flew 7,585 kilometres to Grenada for a birthday party, at a time the people who elected him to office were grappling with severe and unprecedented economic hardship.

Another yet unresolved question is how the governor funded his trip and stay in that Caribbean Island.

The organisers rented the Island for seven days, amounting to about $924,000 in total, in addition to other charges.

Sanwo-Olu and other participants alternated between Calivigny Island and Silversand Grenada, an exotic five-year-old seven-star luxury resort located in Grand Anse beach, where some events of the posh celebration were held.

The governor left Nigeria on Wednesday, 17 January for Aisha’s birthday carnival which began with a scrumptious welcome breakfast and a spectacular dinner with an explosive finish that day. Other guests had arrived in Grenada on 16 January.

However, Sanwo-Olu was only able to join the party on 18 January, the third day of the festivity. He remained there till 23 January, leaving his state without his leadership for days.

Aisha Achimugu

Some of those who attended the party including veteran Nollywood actor, Richard Mofe Damijo, businessman and socialite, Terry Waya, said it was one of the most opulent parties they have ever witnessed or heard about. The celebrant rented the Calivigny Island for one week and reserved rooms for her guests at Silvers and Grenada. Several guests were also said to have been flown from Nigeria to the party location by chartered jets.

During the week-long party, Aisha reportedly changed clothes at least 30 times, with each dress said to cost thousands of dollars. Those are in addition to the high-end clothes she used for a photoshoot with a celebrity photographer ahead of her event.

For most of the time, she was decked in very expensive diamond jewelry, wore designer shoes and carried Hermes crocodile-leather handbags, each said to cost between $50,000 and $80,000. One of the numerous parties took place aboard the Silver Angel, a Yacht sailing on the Caribbean sea under the flag of the United Kingdom.

In addition, a number of local and international A-list musicians and entertainers flew in to perform at the various events. Those who performed include Kenny G, an American saxophonist and composer, Aituaje Iruobe aka Waje, Chinedu Okoli aka Flavour, Adekunle Kosoko aka Adekunle Gold, Ahmed Ololade aka Asake and Mr Killa (a Grenada musician).

Hypemen, disc jockeys, make-up artists, hair stylists and masters of ceremonies were also flown to the Island and were all paid in thousands of dollars for their services, those close to the organisers said.

David Reeves, who was the official disc jockey for Aisha’s party, was seen at the end of the party displaying bundles of crisp U.S. Dollars estimated to be up to $50,000) and saying excitedly, “who wan help you no go stress you”.

Some of the musicians were sprayed with dollars as they performed.

There was exotic wines, expensive but delicious food, crisp dollars and obscene opulence were on display.

“We basically shut down Grenada and the citizens of that country knew that Nigerians were in town, they knew the eagles had landed,” a source revealed.

“But what even surprised me the most was seeing Governor Sanwo-Olu at the event. Is he not sensitive to the mood of the Nigerian nation? What was he doing there as a public figure?”

It is unclear what the relationship between Aisha and Sanwo-Olu is.