“Death reduces all men to the same rank. It strips t he rich man of his millions and the poor man of his rags’.

The reality of this elegy just hit the super-rich family of Ogun State, Nigerian born billionaire businessman, Apase Adebanjo Olaseni Onanubi, whose shocking death in his sleep on Wednesday, April 4th 2018, would leave the family in near permanent pensive mood.

To an extent, wealth makes life easier, it allows for luxury and higher comfort, it relieves worries, and it gives you power. All of these conveniences the late Apase Onanubi had at his behest, until death called in a most amazing manner that fateful day.

Apase Adebanjo was the CEO of Cryslad Group Nigeria limited and was a major distributor for Guiness Nigeria Plc and Nigeria Breweries Plc.

An inside source informed Global Excellence magazine that the businessman left his elitist Goshen Estate residence to attend the last Special Holy Ghost service at the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) camp located along Lags/Ibadan expressway.

According to the source, the programme went late into the night and when it ended, the well-off members including the deceased retired into the RCCG guest houses to pass the night. The guest houses were built by the church for this purpose, the source expressed.

Meanwhile, the next morning, the source relates to Global Excellence magazine, when Apase Onanubi was supposed to be home, there was no sign of him. His family then became worried when it was getting too late and all calls made to his phones went unanswered.

So, the wife reportedly headed to the Redeemed Camp. The source said that, when the wife got to the camp and realized that the service was over, she went straight to the guest house. At the guest house, she reportedly made inquiries about him from the attendants. But the attendants, although they knew he had not checked out from the guest house, reportedly lied to the wife that her husband had left earlier, thinking probably the businessman was extending his stay because had a female partner with him, thus they would not want any scandal for the church. But the wife reportedly became curious and she insisted that his room be checked since he didn’t all calls to his phones.

According to the source, the attendants reluctantly yielded grounds. They went to the businessman’s room and knocked several times but there was no response. Yet the door was locked from inside the room.

That was when they grasped the fact that something must be amiss. The source said that the hotel management was alerted after which they brought the master key to open the door. Inside the room, said the source, the businessman was found stone dead. He was believed to have passed in his sleep as there were no signs of commotion.

He died on his 48th birthday anniversary.

Apase Onanubi’s death, the source said nobody knew, but that it might be connected to pressure given that the deceased was very committed to running his vast business empire, which spans haulage, production, warehousing and distribution.

At precisely 22 years old, Apase Adebanjo Onanubi founded Cryslad Group Nigeria limited, a company that boasts of over 500 employees and expands across both public and private sectors of the economy with major operations in Lagos and Oyo States from where it connects all the states of the country through its services.

Apashe, as he is popularly called by friends and associates, was a philanthropist of note exhibiting visible interest in children welfare and education. Those familiar with his lifestyle say he was a devote Christian who worked hard, partied hard and prayed hard; a person of great love, compassion and humour, and above all, he believed in family unity. In his Ibido, Ogun State community, sources say he was very active in contributing to its development.

-Folorunsho Hamsat

culled @global excellence