One of the new entrants into the hospitality industry of the state of
harmony is the White Field Hotel.
The status it occupies is historical but not unusual based on the fact that it’s close to the Yebumot Hotel which years back enjoyed same status as one of the highly rated and most patronized.
Indeed, it was so rated then as one of the leading hospitality outfits that Kola Abiola showed preference
for whenever he was in the state. Times and development have
pushed Yebumot into the ‘old school’ class and it is now a ghost of its old
self.
The gist here is the furore the ownership of the Whitefield Hotel
has generated which, however, is not also unusual. During the days of
late Alhaji Demola Razaq ‘Landero’ as Osun State PDP Chairman, he was
highly influential and believed to be very rich. Almost all the new things
in town were attributed to him. Sequel to the floating of a new eatery,
Captain Cook in Station area, Osogbo, everybody believed that it
belonged to him; indeed it was almost attacked following the declaration of Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola as winner of the April 14, 2007 election.
By mere co-incidence, all known PDP leaders were
always there for lunch while one of the known Demola boys was a
regular face at Captain Cook and he at different instances was sighted checking the eatery’s books. Indeed, the place was avoided like a plague by the then opposition leaders, the ACN. Following the death of Ademola years after, many had waited patiently for the reading of the will and Alas’
it was only the old LAMECO filling station that belonged to him apart
from his Osogbo and Ode-Omu residences! CaptainCook has an outlet in Ado-Ekiti and Ilorin and the owner is still alive. Two prominent personalities that have had same experience are the former PDP National Chairman,
Alhaji Kawu Baraje and Governor Abdul Fatah Ahmed. Rumours had it that the building opposite the Geri Alimi Roundabout belonged to Baraje until new facts emerged. The timing of Baraje’s acquisition of the old Deens Motel also clashed with the period the WhiteField Hotel was under construction and it was rumoured that the site belonged to him. Later, the ownership of the hotel was changed to Governor Ahmed which is currently the widely accepted version. Owu-Isin born Engineer Gbenga Adebayo owns Royal FM and a newspaper, Royal Times. When it was newly established, it was rumoured
that it belonged to Dele Belgore (SAN) and when the station hit the
airwaves, the version changed to the Engineer fronting for Governor
Ahmed. Months after it began operations, the chap in an interview complained bitterly about
not getting encouragement from the state government and that he was
at that time yet to secure appointment for audience with the
governor! And that settled it. Following the rumour surrounding the ownership of the Whitefield Hotel, we launched investigation and made good efforts at unraveling the mystery surrounding ownership
of the hospitality outfit. We exclusively gathered that the White Field Hotel is owned by a Kwaran
in the Diaspora, Dr. Wole Kajola. He is a successful professional and a
businessman whose family is based in Abuja but shuttles between the
FCT and Kaduna.
He has paid his dues and he has been in business for
more than two decades with magnificent offices in Kaduna and Abuja.
Described as rigid and strict, he sources hinted has turned down all offers of barter arrangement with the hotel and he has a ready answer that he needs to recoup money
sunk into the business and everything must be cash backed. We further gathered that he transfers
the staff to any of the offices in the country at will. ‘The chap
whose birthday was April 17 hardly mingles since he didn’t grow up here
and had fewer numbers of friends in Kwara. It was the family members and friends
that put pressures on him and made him succumb to the idea of
floating a business outfit in the state he hails from. Inspite of that,
hotels that are not as big as his own have swimming pool, he has
refused to release money for it, insisting it is not his priority for
now and that he is putting his money in other businesses and that is why the hotel is yet to have a swimming pool’, the source
stated.
-Akinlolu Abayomi
