He is a hero known to the world. To his son, Paddy, Dr. Mike Adenuga, the trillionaire chairman of Globacom, is even a bigger hero, larger-than-life and almost godlike. Yes, Paddy has publicly shared his opinion about his self-effacing dad. In a Twitter post that has elicited varied reactions from a cross-section of enthusiastic users of the micro-blogging site, Paddy wrote, “Let me just say this. It’s never been easy being his son because he is tough as nails (that’s a whole other article) but I can’t deny that he is the hardest working human being I have ever known in my 34 years and in Nigeria, he is still the greatest of all time’.
Unlike other money men, however, Adenuga has led a most reclusive life. Yet, his heroic exploits in the business world are fodder for an eternally awed citizenry. Paddy became a social media sensation of a sort in 2017 when he published a lengthy article that made the pages of many national newspapers entitled, “I Nearly Acquired Chevron Netherlands at 29.” The story was about how he wanted to buy into an international oil company, which he can then use as a ‘Trojan Horse’ on which to leverage for bigger oil and gas production and exploration contracts in Africa – namely Equatorial Guinea, Angola, and of course Nigeria.
Therein, he confirmed that ; “My time in the family business as a director in the telecoms division and upstream oil & gas company was challenging to say the least but engaging and ultimately rewarding. However, I have never felt comfortable with sitting back and getting a golden pass through life. Whilst the easy thing to do was to be a ‘good boy and good son’ and enjoy all the luxuries of being in a family business – I decided that striking it out on my own once again was the best course of action.”
Young, handsome and easygoing, Paddy also sent twitter aglow when he claimed in May 2018 that he would be 34 in June but still hadn’t found the woman of his dreams. “I am going to be 34 next month… Even after ending my Yoruba demon ways years ago, I still can’t figure women out completely. You meet a babe – all is going well, then gbosa! she gets brain touch…the irrational weyrey (lunatic) tendencies is what gets to me.” That he is single currently, he would later reveal via the same medium, was his own error.
He tweeted: “Once upon a time, I met a young woman that loved me completely. All she ever wanted was my time and candy Percy Pig to be exact but back then, I was too young and foolish to know what I had and I lost her for good. Now, I look back and think what a big mistake I made.” In the same vein, he also revealed that he got engaged twice between 2010 and 2012 to different women but didn’t get married to any of them. A certified scriptwriter since he was 15, Paddy graduated from the Northeastern University in 2002 with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management at the age of 18.
