Since he lost his seat as the Senator representing Ogun East in the Red Chamber of the National Assembly and also his adventure as the gubernatorial candidate of the troubled Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in the state, Kashamu has turned a pariah in the political circles. But the burly-built Ijebu-Igbo businessman has found another passion that helps him stays in the front burner of controversies.
About two year ago, the billionaire businessman joined the growing list of investors in the multi-billion naira online sport betting business with the brand, Western Lotto. Initially, the famed socialite didn’t openly identified with the business, but the fast-rising Western Lotto, within months on board set a fast pace in the business, on account of the stupendous money and assets Kashamu pumped into it from the onset.
Some critics, then hit the town with insinuations that Kashamu’s foray into the lotto business is everything but altruistic. They see it as an extension of his long-drawn battle with the Adebutu family whose patriarch, Chief Kessington Adebutu owns Premier Lotto, the sector leader fondly referred to as ‘Baba Ijebu’.
With their unending bitter political rivalry that pitted Kashamu against Ladi Adebutu, a former member of the lower chamber of the National Assembly, the gear shifted to the economic front as the managers of Kashamu’s Western Lotto allegedly accused of demarketing ‘Baba Ijebu’ with the sole aim of withering his influence and then move on to the top of the business as the leader.
Despite Kashamu’s sports betting company having different operational model with Adebutu’s Premier Lotto—for the latter, staking being physical while Western’s is virtual— the acidic rivalry still pervades.
Kashamu’s Western Lotto is said to have been dangling attractive carrots before players of its game, especially paying handsome amount for winners as and when due; a situation said not to really pose any threat to Baba Ijebu, who over the years has dominated the space, raking in daily billions of Naira in return. But Kashamu is said to be really hell bent on having his way if only to have a stronger hold on the sport betting business in Nigeria.
Perhaps that could be responsible to the change of tactics by turning a whistleblower for Nigeria’s leading anti-graft agency, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
In December 2019, Kashamu sent a petition asking the EFCC to investigate multiple allegations of billions of naira tax fraud and economic sabotage levelled against Adebutu and 21 other betting companies.
He has directly accused Adebutu and his Premier Lotto of allegedly shortchanging Nigerians with an allegation of at least N5 billion in revenue losses by the federal government.
Adebutu is unarguably Nigeria’s biggest and most powerful bookie. The Remo-born philanthropist and Odole of Ile-Ife is an admired personality whose foray into the business world spans more than five decades —his business empire has enjoyed decades of patronage as a household name across the country.
Adebutu’s reputation as a driving force of Nigerian gambling trade has spanned decades before its commercialisation. But the reputation is about to be tainted by his fellow kinsman, Kashamu, with a petition that has made him a new target of a vast sleaze investigation by the EFCC.
As part of the investigation on Tuesday, anti-graft detectives invited the octogenarian billionaire who we gathered was away in London on working holiday. Adebutu was said to have asked Segun, his son and executive director with Premier Lotto to go and honour the invitation on his behalf.
On Tuesday, Segun was at the EFCC office in Ikoyi, Lagos, where he was questioned on matters ranging from alleged tax fraud to economic sabotage. But contrary to the wide spreading insinuations that Segun has been detained by the EFCC, after few hours of grilling the son of the billionaire —a reputable businessman on his own right— he was released on self recognition while the investigation continues.
It was learnt from impeccable source that on that same Tuesday night, unruffled Segun was at the popular Ikoyi lounge, The W, till the early hours of Wednesday in the company of friends and business partners.
"While some people are spreading the rumour that he (Segun) has been detained, on the same night, the enterprising Segun was enjoying himself with some of his friends whom he hangout with at a popular lounge in Ikoyi. The rumour pertaining to his detention was nothing but a deliberate and petty attempt to smear the solid reputation of the lottery mogul and his son. Segun resumed at his post at the Surulere office of the Premier Lotto the following morning to oversee the operation of the family’s businesses under his watch," a source told this writer.
Of course, Kashamu had written petition against 21 betting companies and others which are currently being investigated as part of the sprawling inquiry into how betting funds were being handled across the country, but a source told this writer that the controversial businessman’s actual targets are his fellow kinsmen —Adebutu and Kunle Soname, the owner of Bet9ja, another highflying online bookmaker.
It would be recalled that sometime last year, Kashamu —who is wanted for an unrelated drug offense in the United States for which he has denied culpability— had instigated the Sheriffs of the Federal High Court, Lagos to raid Lagos office of Soname’s Bet9ja and recovered a seal suspected of infringing the copyright of Lotto9ja Ltd, owned his Western Lotto. The raid followed an Anton Piller injunction granted by Justice Taiwo Taiwo of a Federal High Court in Abuja on August 8, 2019, in favour of Kashamu's Western Lotto. An Anton Piller order authorizes an applicant to search premises and seize evidence without prior warning.
The matter is still in court.
In all, multiple officials at the National Lottery Regulatory Commission were said to be terribly mortified over the raging investigation triggered by Kashamu, whom has been accused of precipitated the crisis in order to dominate a section of the betting business in Nigeria. It was learnt that Kashamu has been laying claims to the sole rights to another high yielding lottery known as ‘Ghana Games’ in Nigeria.
But as it is now, no one can say who will blink first, given the enormous financial war chest at the beck of the two main gladiators in the Nigeria’s over $2 billion online betting industry.
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