Super businessman and serial investor, Otunba Mike Adenuga is in the news again, this time for awkward reasons.

Based on the hushed reports that continue to make the rounds irrespective of endeavours to the contrary, a formerly trusted confidante of Adenuga has joined the ‘other side’ and sponged around $300,000 (which is about ₦114 million) from Adenuga’s company pockets. And the accused counter-alleged that she has been romantically tangled with Adenuga for the past three decades.

The gist only came to light recently when a Lagos division of the Nigerian Federal High Court adjourned the case for further investigations. This decision was actually based on the fact that both sides had presented compelling—and yet contrary—sides to the same matter.

The original suit accused one Ms Honora Olumide Johnson, a supposed former confidential secretary to Dr Mike Adenuga (alongside a few others) of filching money belonging to Worldspan Holdings Limited, a company allegedly owned by Mike Adenuga. Adenuga’s legal representative reportedly alleged that Ms Johnson had been directed to transfer the around $300,000 in question to the Conoil account, but the directive was flouted and Ms Johnson and her band instead transferred the funds to a different account in China for their benefits.

The reports continued that Ms Johnson was also accused of methodically stealing “various currencies in naira and foreign currencies in the total equivalent of $350,000” between 2018 and 2020.

In response, Ms Johnson allegedly denied everything, arguing that she had left the employ of Mike Adenuga in 2019 because he kept pestering her to continue their 30-year-old romantic relationship. She further alleged that she knew nothing about any $300,000 or $350,000, having never been asked to transfer such amounts of funds or lifted them from company accounts for nefarious purposes. She reportedly alleged that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had done the bidding of her former boss and harassed her to no end, ejecting her from her residence in the process.

What the Federal High Court had initially been asked to do was unfreeze the account of Ms Johnson and grant her the repossession of her properties which had been seized by the EFCC.

Based on all these reports, the Federal High Court allegedly had to adjourn the case and prepare to properly investigate both sides of the story. Come April 22, hopefully, all the edges to the story would be properly carved out.