About some 72 hours to the interment of Africa’s foremost billionaire and philanthropist, Ambassador Oladehinde Fernandez, who died on September 1, 2015 in Brussels, Belgium and was buried in the European nation, one of the women in his life and popular socialite and revered traditional chief, Erelu Abiola Dosunmu, put up a strongly worded advertorial in a popular newspaper, where she eulogized her ex and disclosed the damning story of their love together.
It would be recalled that in the 90s, Bashorun Dele Momodu, the publisher of Ovation International Magazine, had interviewed Ambassador Fernandez and published his larger than life image and achievements.
In the year 2007, Baron Dehinde Fernandez had reasons to invite the then young editor of the wave making First Weekly Magazine, Malik Ibitoye to his Kano State home, where he spoke exclusively about his love life, particularly his relationship with Erelu Abiola Dosunmu, who was formerly known and addressed as Erelu Abiola Fernandez, but had to drop the name; Fernandez after a very bitter battle.
We hereby take you down memory lane and reproduce the two stories we published in 2007 and the tribute written about him by Erelu Abiola Dosunmu for your delight.
Billionaire Dehinde Fernandez Disgraces Erelu Abiola Dosunmu
“I Was Never Your Husband I Helped You Out of Pity”
…Erelu Tenders Wedding Pics, Says We’ll Meet In Court
Ambassador Dehinde Fernandez, the legendary Nigerian Billionaire is angry with the beautiful woman of style and Lagos High Chief, Erelu Abiola Dosunmu.
In fact, the powerful and well connected businessman, who is said to own a diamond mine in Angola, has declared that he never married Erelu Abiola Dosunmu contrary to what is generally believed.
The cause of the multi-billionaire’s anger is over an interview the Lagos princess granted a soft-sell magazine two weeks ago, when she spoke extensively on her life as she clocks 60 years of age in the next few days.
In the said interview, Erelu Abiola Dosunmu had reminiscence on her life and spoke on her relationship with Ambassador Dehinde Fernandez.
The Erelu was quoted to have said “…I remember when I met my second husband and we bought Tower Fernandez and bought the factory in Badagry, and i’ll work late at night and then rush home to go and cook for him… and you wonder, where the energy come from. I remember the day I had our first child, it was 3am that I went to the hospital, it was raining heavily and we were building the factory and I was helping in carrying the blocks and doing things, and by the time I got to the hospital within half hour, the baby was out…”
The above seemingly harmless statement however, hit the billionaire below the belt. Actually, it did not go down well with him, and he fired at Erelu Dosunmu through some paid adverts in some daily newspapers last week as a public notice.
In the public notice, which many people believed was a shocker, he said, “I was never married to this woman.”
Ambassador Fernandez also said that he had gone to court to stop Erelu from using his name.
The declaration by the billionaire through the advertorial took a lot of people by surprise as it was widely believed that the duo were married, but broke up.
The excerpts of the advertorial reads…
“My attention has been drawn to the recent interview granted by Erelu Abiola Dosunmu of City People Magazine of July 10, 2007 referring to me as her second husband and making to ‘us’ buying Tower Fernandez and the factory in Badagry. I want to state here categorically that I WAS NEVER MARRIED TO THIS WOMAN. Hence, I went to court to stop her from using my name. She was trading in a small boutique on Broad Street, Lagos, when I met her and no money at all. I helped her out of pity for a young woman with two children and no husband. Her mother, may she rest in peace, constantly reminded her that she has no quality for me to be interested in, except out of pity. I was married thrice in my life, the first was never consummated, my second marriage was to Babara Joyce and the third to Halima Adebiyi, my present wife…’
Expectedly, the content of the advertorial jolted top socialites and friends of the Erelu and it has become the subject of public discourse.
Meanwhile, it seems the whole episode between Ambassador Fernandez and the Erelu is just about to unfold because on Saturday July 21, 2007, the respected woman hit back at the billionaire by going into her old photo albums to publish some intimate pictures of herself and the Ambassador in a daily newspaper advertorial titled FERNANDEZ AND ME.
In some of the pictures, a particular one (reproduced below) was captioned “Wedding Day at the Reception,” while others showed Ambassador Fernandez and Erelu Dosunmu in other intimate moods.
The Erelu however, gave the last line in the advertorial that she will meet the Ambassador again in court.