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Businesman and boss of Sahara Energy, Tope Sonubi, has every reason to be happy and festive. Sonubi is a stylish man who enjoys the high life. He does not do half measures when it comes to his luxury lifestyle; he goes the whole hog. His swanky penthouse apartment in Banana Island, Lagos, always leaves those opportune to visit gawking in awe and admiration. For Sahara Energy that Sonubi leads, business is good.
The firm which started as a small company trading in excess oil from the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries as its core business then, is now a multi-billion dollar business. The company later grew to be actively involved in the crude-for-oil swap. This also involved local and international oil traders and refineries getting crude oil supplies in exchange for petrol and diesel from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC. In fact, early this year, the company won a bid to supply to the Cameroonian government around 300 million litres of fuel to meet their local demand.
So, the affable businessman is doing well. Yet, he was said to be silently hurting. Sources said Sonubi has been silently grieving the death of Mallam Abba Kyari, the former Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari who died due to complications arising from the dreaded Coronavirus. Perhaps more than his (Kyari) immediate family and associates, Sonubi is one of the few outsiders that have been missing Kyari most. The late Chief of Staff was said to have been an enabler of all possibilities for many including Sonubi. It was said Sonubi may not heal from Kyari’s death for some years to come as both allegedly had a somewhat father-son relationship. The two men were chummy till Kyari died in April. And the Sahara Energy has allegedly been nursing the pain of the loss ever since.
