● The Trip, Terror Of Being A Power-broker
● His Trajectory From Village Boy To Socialite
In the midst of sensuous, bikini-wearing young ladies suntanning or just sipping on exotic drinks, Terry Waya, the controversial, party-loving ‘businessman’, finds ease and escape from life’s many pressures. And he chooses some of the most beautiful holiday destinations in the world for his extravagant frolics foregrounded by brunettes, bubblies, and blue seas.
Waya knows more than a thing or two about living the life. He knows what time it is regarding billionaire playgrounds and such appurtenances. Though he describes himself as an Agro-allied industrialist and investor, Waya is one billionaire who is not affiliated with a company or substantive business that legitimately funds his lifestyle.
Pray, what does Waya do for a living?
Interestingly, however, we have heard the chimes of affluence in the life of Terry Waya. We have heard the clang of misfortune too. Yet life’s one great party for Mr. Waya – at least that’s the narrative he would like everyone to accept.
Life is full of charm and pageantry for Waya. He literally lives in a bubble; with unfettered access to tons of assets, luxury pads, and liquid cash, it’s no surprise that he basks in all things bright, bubbly and beautiful. There is no gainsaying Waya lives like a rockerfella thus his fabled rock star reputation.
Many of his friends would give a limb to swap places with him, even if to walk a day in his shoes and sleep in his pad; many would give more than a limb to taste his lavida loca lifestyle.
Yes, he has a deep pocket to satiate his highflying cravings. Judging by his posts on Instagram, in the last three months, Waya had snowboarded and yachted on Mykonos Island before flying a private jet to St Tropez (one of the Mediterranean’s fanciest beach destinations) with a brief stopover in Marbella, a scenic resort in the South of Spain just to have fun. There were stops at Monaco and Milan among other European cities where he dined out at posh restaurants and lodged at luxury hotels.
For fun, he may cruise the scenic beach at Ibiza, the Balearic islands, an archipelago of Spain in the Mediterranean Sea. Waya is smitten with the lively nightlife in Ibiza Town and Sant Antoni, where major European nightclubs have summer outposts.
For more subtle relaxation, he retires, at will, to the quiet villages, yoga retreats and beaches, from Platja d’en Bossa, lined with hotels, bars and shops, to quieter sandy coves backed by pine-clad hills found all around the Spanish archipelago, pausing intermittently to Instagram on the go.
Sometimes, he could seem the modest social butterfly, quietly sipping on a glass of Laurent-Perrier in the bar of The Lover’s Deep St. Lucia Submarine – The Underwater Hotel, St. Lucia in the Caribbean Islands or the Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas, United States (US).
Waya likes to show off and there is usually no one to tell him to tone it down. Especially not his son, Kiddwaya, with whom he occasionally frolics amid buxomly damsels and champagne.
And does he worry about flaunting it all on social media? Of course not. Thus his affinity for the perfect shot while holding a flute with bubbly that never runs short. It never hurts to show that his life is a perpetual portrait of him having a ball and a blast.
Waya has no known source of income but he lives large. His claim to fame was his extravagant 40th birthday bash at the Le Méridien Piccadilly in London, United Kingdom, in 2001. The event garnered attention as ten Nigerian state governors were in attendance. The lavish celebration triggered controversy, with then-President Olusegun Obasanjo accusing some governors of squandering state resources by attending such social gatherings abroad.
Born in a village in Benue State, Waya moved to Kaduna at an early age and grew up there. He attended the Kaduna Polytechnic before he relocated to Abuja, a then-developing city. Soon, Abuja became the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and it was there that he allegedly got his first break when he consulted for the company that built the Transcorp Hilton in the early 90s.
He subsequently became a known fixer for top politicians from the mid-90s to early 2000s and acquired a lot of money with which he made investments in the United Kingdom (UK) and several countries in Europe.
A top lobbyist, Waya reportedly sustains his fortune through his links with a slew of Nigerian elites across politics to business and his purported investments across several sectors including real estate, oil and hospitality.
“I’m a consultant, that’s different from lobbying,” he once said when he was asked how he made his money.
“I made a lot of money during the military era, I’m not making money with this government. I’m okay with what I have, I’m comfortable, I don’t want the whole world,” he said.
Widely called Mr. Versace because of his love for the luxury fashion brand, Waya once claimed in an interview that he maintained a close relationship with the owners of the brand.
Always garbed in designer outfits to match the season and time of day, the diminutive man of style seems to have introduced his son, Kid, a Big Brother Nigeria alumna, into his rollercoaster lifestyle. Kid recently posted a video he captioned “Me and my dad just create our own reality. That’s how we chill. of father and son.” The Wayas were in the company of about five white, thong-wearing girls on a beach resort. A perfect chip off the old block, Kidd, a fitness enthusiast, shares a striking resemblance with his dad and seems to have mastered the art of living la vida loca from the master.
Indeed, not even Terry Waya would believe that he would build a long-lasting name as a hard-core party rocker and lifestyle purveyor. In his heydays, the Versace-loving Benue State native was the life and soul of any party.
He was a very close associate of former Governor James Ibori of Delta State and his then Bayelsa State counterpart, late DSP Alamieyeseigha. So close were they that when Alamieyeseigha was arrested for money laundering having been found in possession of millions in British pounds cash, Waya reportedly posted bail on his behalf before Alamieyeseigha bolted from the UK.
Then, attention shifted to him and he was forced to lay low after he was also involved in allegations of money laundering, during which he was arrested, and prosecuted but later acquitted by a British court. He has remained permanently in London where he owns a grandiose mansion that he makes available for the pleasures of his big friends.
Alongside his notoriety as the ultimate party organizer and rocker, Waya also had his way with some of high society’s leading ladies. He was heavily involved with one of the flower girls of the society then, Eno Olafisoye, who ended up bearing him a son, Tera. They were never legitimately married but continue to co-parent their son. Meanwhile, Waya was originally married to Susan, the mother of Kidd. Susan is a businesswoman, politician, and philanthropist who separated from her husband allegedly due to his fast-paced lifestyle.
