President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has sacked from the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Senator Gbenga Ashafa, an acolyte of his estranged godsons and former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, former Governor Babatunde Fashola, and replaced him with his son-in-law, Hon. Oyetunde Oladimeji Ojo.
The new appointee is married to Tinubu’s daughter, Mrs. Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, the market leader and Iyaloja of Lagos.
Ojo’s appointment was announced Thursday in a State House press statement, signed Chief Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity.
Ojo served in the Seventh House of Representatives as Member from Ijero/Efon/Ekiti West (Ekiti State) from 2011.
A former Senator representing Lagos East Senatorial District, FHA’s ex-CEO Gbenga Bareehu Ashafa, 68, served as FHA’s Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, upon being appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari in August 2020.
The appointment was thought to have been facilitated by Fashola and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, with whom Tinubu has now parted ways politically.
The full statement announcing the new appointments read:
PRESIDENT TINUBU APPROVES LEADERSHIP CHANGES IN THE HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT SECTOR
As part of a holistic approach to repositioning the national housing and urban development sector to meet the present and future needs of Nigerian families nationwide, President Bola Tinubu has approved the reconstitution of the executive management teams of parastatals under the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development:
Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN):
(1) Managing Director / CEO — Mr. Shehu Usman Osidi
(2) Executive Director (Finance & Corporate Services) — Mr. Ibidapo Odojukan
(3) Executive Director (Loans & Mortgage Services) — Mr. Muhammad Sani Abdu
(4) Executive Director (Business Development & Portfolios) — Ms. Chinenye Anosike
Federal Housing Authority (FHA):
(1) Managing Director / CEO — Hon. Oyetunde Oladimeji Ojo
(2) Executive Director (Housing Finance & Accounts) — Mr. Mathias Terwase Byuan
(3) Executive Director (Business Development) — Mr. Umar Dankane Abdullahi
(4) Executive Director (Project Implementation) — Engr. Oluremi Omowaiye
(5) Executive Director (Estate Services) — Arc. Ezekiel Nya-Etok
New FMBN CEO, Mr. Shehu Osidi, is a banker with over 30 years of work experience, including 13 years of experience in mortgage banking. He is an alumnus of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government as well as the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Housing Finance.
New FHA CEO, Hon. Oyetunde Ojo, is a former Member of the House of Representatives with over a decade of work experience in the housing and hospitality industries. He holds a Master’s degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Greenwich, United Kingdom.
In view of President Bola Tinubu’s historic approval of the establishment of Building Materials Hubs across all six of the nation’s geo-political zones; financing and establishment of a National Social Housing Fund for low income and vulnerable groups, and land reforms to collaboratively streamline access to land across all states and unlock nearly $300 billion of dead capital in the sector, his expectations are high that the above-named appointees will hit the ground running in the delivery of affordable housing for millions of Nigerians in need, while providing millions of new job opportunities for Nigeria’s talented youth population presently searching for work.
