Back from the brink…How Lagos governor, Akinwumi Ambode rescued Jide Sanwoolu from poverty

By Tope Adewale

Second chance is a treat for the man who had experienced fortune and rank only to lose it. Ask Jide Sanwoolu. The former Lagos commissioner has finally reencountered bliss in trying hours, like the sojourner who discovers a babbling brook in the middle of the Sahara.

Jide has a reason to smile again after a long hiatus from the business and political scene. It would be recalled that he served as the Executive Director of Marketing and Divisional Head of Real Specialties at Real Groups Ltd. While there, he coordinated the sales and marketing activities of the Specialties division. He also served as the commissioner for Establishment and Training between 2004 and 2005.

It was gathered that Jide who also worked for former deputy governor of Lagos, Femi Pedro, allegedly left him to sustain his loyalty to former Lagos governor, Bola Tinubu. Jide worked closely with Tinubu’s wife, Senator Oluremi. But soon after his stint in the corridors of power, he faded off the political scene. Rumour had it that he got caught in certain intrigues that left him flat broke and without a political base.

Jide was totally forgotten and abandoned in his time of need. Nothing was heard of him again until very recently when Governor Akinwumi Ambode came to his aid and restored him to political limelight by appointing him as the MD/CEO of Lagos State Property Development Corporation (LSDPC). Thus Jide currently controls major properties in Lagos as you read. This no doubt gives him cause to smile after suffering the torment of abandonment in the political wilderness.