Boardroom guru and socialite, Chief Olabode Emanuel is dead. He died on 4th January 4, 2025. Before his demise, Chief Emmanuel was a Chartered Accountant par excellence, a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW), and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN).
As a seasoned administrator with vast experience, Chief Emanuel served as the Chairman of the Board of many local and international corporate organizations including BoriniProno & Co. Limited; Trevi Foundations of Nigeria Limited; Foundation Construction Limited; Saipem (Nigeria) Limited; Hogg Robinson Nigeria Limited; Grand Cereals Limited; Nigerian Life & Provident Company Limited, Sterling Assurance Company Limited, Macmillan Nigeria Publishers Limited – Publishers of Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Books and Publications in Africa – amongst others.
Chief Emmanuel died exactly 6 years after he formalised his relationship with Anna Okwesa in London.
It was a low-key event in the Victorian City. It would be recalled that his affair with Anana started about 15 years before the formalization of the relationship.
The pair met at a society party. Anana, a very successful lawyer and businesswoman, had been in a previous marriage, which did not work out.
And barely two years after she met Chief Emmanuel, she got pregnant, for the first time, and became so ecstatic about it. Consequently, Anana had her son, Jimmy, and ever since then, she remained a permanent fixture in Chief Emmanuel’s life.
But his affair with Anana did not go down well with his then wife, Adetutu. The affair was reported to have caused her so much grief. Adetutu, the younger sister of Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, was said to have felt affronted by what she perceived to be Anana’s strong influence over her husband’s life. She was miffed with the fact that she was just coming around from the shock of her husband, fathering another socialite, Nikky Ogbuefi’s daughter, when Anana came along and took over her husband.
Adetutu was said to have done all that she could to wriggle her husband from Anana’s grip, but all her efforts proved to be futile. Somehow, when she realized that Anana had a strong hold on her husband, she decided to move out of her matrimonial home.
Interestingly too, when some family members and close friends of the couple reportedly made frantic moves to reconcile the embattle couple, Chief Emmanuel was said to have informed them that he was not willing to let go of Anana, a native of Ossomari in Rivers State because he is genuinely in love with her. And he has stuck with her ever since.
Before his death, Chief Emmanuel loved to go on cruises and savour exotic musical adventures in London, Paris, Milan, Vienna, etc. Nothing but the best of the best was good enough. He lived his life to the fullest. He was larger than life. His taste in choice of restaurants in any part of the world was matchless and flawless.
Over the years, he amassed a huge collection of rare artworks – paintings and sculptures by Ben Enwowu, Yusuf Grillo and other masters. He was also an avid reader and his vast library attests to his cerebral and eclectic disposition and intellectual curiosity. He was until his death the Chairman of Macmillan – publishers of mostly textbooks for schools and universities, as well as plays and novels.
Details on burial arrangements are to be announced by the family.