How I Nearly Committed Suicide As A Young Prince – Ooni Of Ife
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The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi on Tuesday has revealed that he nearly took his own life as a young prince while grappling with a failed real estate venture in Lagos.
He said this while speaking at the 5th Real Estate Summit, themed: “Reimagining Lagos Landscape and Ensuring Sustainable Real Estate Development Practices,” organized by Lagos State Real Estate Regulatory Authority (LASRERA), held at Eko Hotels, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The monarch shared the deeply personal account during an event where he praised the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, for his support and contributions to the state’s development, particularly in the real estate sector.
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Recalling his early struggles in the business world, the Ooni explained how his boldness and determination led him to invest in a challenging real estate project in Yaba, Lagos, an area with a difficult soil profile.
“I built an estate in Yaba, in the midst of land that is heterogeneous. Every square meter I built a different soil profile. But a young man that came to Lagos with nothing, just to hustle and make something out of it. Every square meter of that land you will meet a car, a Mercedes Benz of 1910. It was a dump site,” he said.
The project, which involved building multiple floors on unstable land, ultimately failed, forcing him to demolish the entire estate.
However, the Ooni found solace and support from influential figures, including Governor Sanwo-Olu, who was a commissioner at the time.
“It was God that saved me, and people like the governor of Sanwo-Olu, who was a commissioner then, gave me so much courage,” the Ooni revealed.
