Chukwudi iwuchukwu, CEO Visage Media, is a regular contributor to public discourse especially across the social media network especially X. He writes here on Gilbert Chagoury, winner of the Lagos-Calabar. Excerpts:
Gilbert Chagoury, the owner of Hi Tech Construction Company, which won the controversial Lagos-Calabar coastal road without any competitive bidding, also owns the massive Eko Hotel Lagos.
He also owns Eko Atlantic, the most expensive city in Nigeria.
He is a Lebanese/Nigerian, and his parents arrived in Nigeria from Lebanon at the beginning of the 19th century in search of economic opportunities. Their son Gilbert has achieved success and is now living in Lagos.
He is a close friend of the Bill Clinton family, a card carrying member of the Democratic Party in the state, and a generous funder of the liberals as well.
Gilbert does not live in Lagos again, the place where he made his wealth; he has relocated to France, where he lives in a castle in Paris, where he is enjoying his retirement.
His children run his conglomerate business empire in Lagos, but beyond that,
Gilbert is one of the closest human beings alive, close to our president, and their relationship dates back over three decades.
He clocked 78 last January, and our president gave him a presidential shout-out to celebrate his birthday as his confidant and man Friday.
This is the first time he’s received a shout-out from a sitting president on his birthday since the return of democracy in 1999.
The last time our president travelled to France for personal reasons, he was at his farm house in Paris.
So Gilbert’s company got the lucrative costal road contract worth 15 trillion over the likes of Julius Berger and Wigwe’s Craneburg, who are the number 1 and number 2 construction companies in Nigeria, because of personal relationships, nepotism, and padi padi.
Something to ponder on.
– Chukwudi Iwuchukwu.
