Happiness delayed is happiness denied, and in whatever way the proposal may have originated, whether resulting from "the course of true love" or political calculations, Aisha Yar’adua, the third daughter of President Umaru Musa Yar’adua left the beleaguered billionaire businessman, Aliko Dangote facing disappointment after turning down his offer of marriage. But as in everything else about Nigeria’s unscrupulous richest man, now tottering on the brink of bankruptcy, Dangote will not take no for an answer!
It was not immediately clear whether the President influenced his daughter’s decision but observers have been quick to point out that, relations between the two men have been anything but cordial. Yar’adua was said to be still smarting from the snub Dangote gave him in the countdown to the 2007 elections. It is public knowledge that unlike the Obasanjo years during which Dangote had unbridled access to the corridors of power, Yar’adua has, upon taken power, tried to be his own man and attempts by Dangote to warm up to Yar’adua have been met with cold shoulders.
The reasons for the schism between the two men are still not clear, but keen observers are quick to recall that in the build-up to the 2007 elections, Dangote used his financial muscle to arm-twist and shut out Yar’adua’s chosen representative in the election strategy planning committee. By sidelining the President’s eyes and ears in the committee, Dangote wanted to keep Yar’adua in the loop over goings-on in the campaign. Yar’adua didn’t take this kindly.
If Aliko Dangote was a person of good breeding and right feeling, he will need no caution to remember that, once admitted into the heart of the first family as the suitor of a daughter, he will receive one of the greatest possible favors that can be conferred on him, whatever may be his own superiority of social rank or worldly circumstances; and that, therefore, his conduct should be marked by a delicate respect towards the parents of his lady-love. By this means he will propitiate them in his favor, and induce them to regard him as worthy of the uninsured risk Yar’adua will be taking to entrust his daughter to a moral vampire.
Tagged third-point agenda, Aisha`s nuptial race will certainly be an exciting one to watch as there are indications that the list of contenders is getting longer than the list of pretenders. The Yar’adua girls in recent times have simply become the hottest merchandise for most of Nigeria’s opportunistic, treasure-hunting gold-diggers and some wealthy but failed husbands. Little surprise therefore that Aisha Yar`adua, the physically attractive 22-year old President’s daughter has become a major acquisition challenge for Aliko Dangote.
With everything else going down but his libido, Aliko Dangote, whose tendency to flirtation may have given rise to a false hope of Aisha favoring his suit, was emotionally devastated when he was made to understand that within the President’s domestic circles, he was an unwelcome visitor whose probationary suitor status has run its full course. A source close to the Forbes-listed billionaire told Huhuonline.com that Aisha, who is an intimate friend of Aliko’s daughter Halima, sealed Aliko’s fate when she advised him to consult the rules of etiquette saying: "Halima will not forgive me if I marry you."
"Aisha just disposed Dangote like pliable wax with a lightness of demeanor that is humiliatingly scandalous," the source commented, adding that: “when a lady rejects the proposal of a man like Dangote, her behavior should be characterized by the most delicate feeling towards someone who, in offering his hand, has proved his desire to confer upon her, the greatest honor it is in his power to offer. "
No woman of proper feeling would regard her rejection of an offer of marriage from a wealthy man like Dangote as a matter of triumph: her feeling on such an occasion should be one of regretful sympathy with him for the pain she is unavoidably compelled to inflict. At all events, no lady should ever treat a man who has so honored her with the slightest disrespect or frivolous disregard, nor ever unfeelingly parade a more favored suitor before one whom she has refused.
But close sources told Huhuonline.com that Aisha had no love for Aliko Dangote to even at least evince a tender regard for his feelings; and, considered Dangote’s clandestine marriage proposal as presumptuous and intrusive. No right-minded man would desire to persist in a pursuit when he well knows that the object of his admiration has already disposed of her heart.
Aisha’s heart, sources told huhuonline.com, had stood the test of faithfulness and the trial of time with her boyfriend cum oil mogul, Abdurrahman Musa Bashir, whom she introduced as her fiancé to a Huhuonline.com source. Enter Aliko Dangote who saw the prospects of being the President’s in-law as the last line of defence to salvage what remains of his crumbling financial empire. Working behind the scenes, Dangote hatched a dastardly plot to destabilize Bashir by arm-twisting the Managing Director of the bank which financed Bashir’s operations to pull the rug under Bashir’s feet and throw his oil business in jeopardy.
The distraction was enough for Bashir to re-focus all his energies in rescuing his oil business from collapse, leaving the door open for Dangote. But Dangote forgot to learn that a good salesman does not sell his goods by knocking off his competitors; he sells his goods on their merit. With Bashir virtually out of the race, Dangote mistakenly thought that he had made the sale but not closed the deal. Don’t expect much and you won’t be disappointed. Emerging feelers suggest that there are subterranean moves by a certain Governor, with very close ties to the Yar`adua, family, to join the race to marry the President’s daughter.
The desperate quest for power amongst Nigeria`s political elite has made politicians, of northern extraction to fall over themselves in the bid to marry Aisha who has literally become an acquisition challenge and “coveted trophy” for very ambitious vultures seeking political patronage.
It should be recalled that Yar’adua`s first daughter married the Governor of Kebbi state. Since the marriage, life has not been the same for Kebbi state governor and his cronies, as things drastically became better. It was then speculated before the bubble burst, that the incumbent minister of FCT, got his plump job because of the union.
Also, in May 2007, Adamu Aliero, anointed, the present governor of Kebbi state to succeed him. As an act of appreciation, the godfather was elevated to the FCT ministry, after Zainab’s marriage. Impeccable sources confided in huhuonline.com that Adamu Aliero was made minister by Zainab. In the spirit of keeping it in the family, it was Adamu Aliero who told Nigerians that President Umaru Yar`adua will seek a second term in office. That was before the squabble between Aliero and the incumbent Governor of Kebbi state.
Recently, the governor of Bauchi state, Isah Yaguda also married Nafisa, Yar’dua`s second daughter, who has since become a major player in Nigeria’s power circles, though he belonged to the opposition party, he has since crossed to the PDP. However, sources revealed that his young wife Nafisa, like her mom, Turai has keen interest in being first lady. Though she is wife number four, she is clearly a dominating factor in the Yuguda household.
The results of the clandestine marriage proposal proved the step to have been ill-judged, imprudent, and highly injurious to the reputation of one party, and would have, in the long run detrimental to the happiness of both. As the race for Yar’adua’s third daughter, Aisha intensifies, who becomes the eventual ‘Mr. Right’, may not be certain but what is sure is that the polygamist-billionaire, Aliko Dangote is out of the race. This perhaps, may give him enough time to squarely face his losing battle against Chief Femi Otedola.
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