Not many people appreciate that President Bola Tinubu’s eldest son, Oluwaseyi Afolabi, simply called Seyi, has over the years, been very active in Nigerian business and governance circles.
Before the election of President Tinubu in 2023, Seyi, interestingly operated as a sequent entrepreneur, becoming the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Co-Founder of Loatsad Promomedia Limited, an outdoor advertising company servicing Nigeria’s leading blue chip and multinational companies as its clients.
Seyi’s impressive inroads in business soon gained international recognition, beginning in 2019 when he was crowned the ECOWAS Youth Ambassador for Entrepreneurship and Youth Development. In Ghana, Seyi in 2020 was inducted into the Institute of Public Resources Management and Politics, highlighting his professional excellence and leadership in various fields.
Only recently, Seyi gained wide traction in the nation’s political space, a move that has been received with some level of skepticism, suspicion, and reservations. What is however incontrovertible is that Seyi makes history as the first son of a Nigerian leader systematically seeking to shore up additional image and reputation for his father, especially, while in office. Not one son of a former Nigerian President has attempted this bold move.
For those who are not necessarily in a hurry to relate Seyi’s actions to politics, he remains a sound intellectual with street credibility, pushing further his long quest for great philanthropy and generosity as well as a deep love for the youth population – steps that have earned him the nickname, ‘The King of Boys’.
‘The apple, they say, does not fall far from the tree’. Seyi’s recent public outshow is similar to President Tinubu’s established reputation, which he earned since his foray into active politics in the early 1990s, first as a unifier and social welfarist.
Seyi himself, confesses that the ultimate goal of his latest actions is to engage communities and promote socio-political initiatives with activities focused on youth empowerment, civic engagement, and addressing societal challenges – thereby aligning with significant roles of a public figure seeking genuine development and unity.
The motive of Seyi’s public display therefore, is not only about helping his father who is deeply engrossed in governance issues, but to also sustain the building of bridges of friendship and mutual understanding of the government’s deliberate actions across the country.
In early March 2025, Seyi leveraged the Islamic holy month of Ramadan with its lofty calls for moral and social underpinnings of the virtue of character, charity, and goodwill towards the vast majority of society, as he demonstrated his passion.
As the chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Isaac Balami argued, those criticizing and relating the President’s son’s tour during Ramadan to politics, are unfair to him, and really, do not know his person. “Seyi Tinubu’s visit to northern communities is not political. He has been engaged in humanitarian work for over a decade. His Iftar outreach started 10 to 15 years ago, long before his father became President,” Balami told journalists recently in Abuja.
Seyi’s visits have been described as a Ramadan outreach of the Renewed Hope Youth Engagement initiative. The President’s son accompanied by many youths, visited the states of Niger where he also met with former Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar, Kaduna where he also met with former President Muhammadu Buhari, as well as Kano, Yobe, Bauchi, and Sokoto, where he participated in community events and shared Ramadan packages.
Many Nigerians conversant with his philanthropic style understand him better, especially, with the role he played during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic beginning in 2020.
Reports indicate that through his Noella Foundation, Seyi partnered with YBNL and Food Clique during the lockdown period to support several people while donating over 30,000 food packs to those who struggled. It was an act of philanthropy that stood out at a time when some officials of government were even being accused of hoarding relief materials.
The Noella Foundation was co-founded by Seyi and his wife, Layal Jade Tinubu, and has been in the vanguard of supporting girl-child education, healthcare, youth empowerment, and poverty alleviation. The organization also runs the Seyi Tinubu Empowerment Project (STEP), which provides tech skills, mentorship, and funding for young entrepreneurs.
It is instructive to understand that Seyi has embarked on several other philanthropic interventions across the country. The President’s son, for instance, in September 2024, donated the sum of N500 million to victims of a flood disaster in Maiduguri, Borno state, as he visited the ravaged city with his brother, friends, and associates.
“We are here today, not just as representatives of our family but as members of a collective effort of young Nigerians to bring hope and relief to those who need it most. This is a moment for solidarity, compassion, and immediate action,” Seyi told Governor Babagana Zulum.
Again, in February 2025, Seyi distributed relief items worth N100 million to indigent students affected by the September 2024 flood in Maiduguri, Borno State, a gesture he said, was necessary to restore hope, bring smiles to the students, and help them return to school.
Students from six tertiary institutions – the University of Maiduguri, College of Agriculture, College of Nursing, College of Health, and Federal College of Fisheries, Baga, devastated by the flood benefited from the donation, which included bags of rice, salt, cartons of spaghetti, seasoning cubes, sets of wrappers, blankets, vegetable oil, and other essentials.
Through his Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), Noella Foundation, Seyi in September 2023, had also donated cash worth N2 million with food items and other materials to fire disaster victims in the Akwanga area of Nasarawa state. Many of the victims were reported to have been sleeping in ramshackle made-up tents on the street amid insecurity.
Imagine one of Seyi’s most notable acts of kindness when he gave life-changing support to a struggling one-legged Lagos bus conductor, Chima. The physically challenged gentleman received a state-of-the-art prosthetic leg worth millions of Naira —a gesture that not only restored Chima’s mobility but also his dignity.
It was a moment of liberation for Chima as he received not only physical support. Seyi also guaranteed financial stability for the young man when he offered him a position as an assistant coach on his football team. By the pronouncement, Chima has been receiving a monthly salary of N50,000.
“My life is back to normal because I can now walk with both legs, work, and earn a living. I thank God for using the Noella Foundation through Seyi Tinubu to come to my rescue. God bless them mightily,” an excited Chima said.
The President’s son has also promised far-reaching support for the nation’s health sector through his philanthropic activities. In October 2024, the Seyi Tinubu Maternal, and Child Health Intervention announced an intervention targeting to alleviate the financial hardship of medication of over 10,000 indigent patients across 60 tertiary health institutions in the country. This gesture is aside from the launch of a drug Bank that ensures sufficient delivery of medicine consumables to attend to the needs of indigent persons.
Understanding these laudable and unique interventionist initiatives of the President’s son makes even the doubting Thomases, come to terms with Seyi’s genuine intentions, which speak volumes of how he remains a successful entrepreneur, a vibrant socialite with great depth, a sports enthusiast, a true humanist, and now the son of the Nigerian President, only doing the needful and what he knows best.
