A Profile of Seyi Tinubu: The Lagos Heir Who Shunned Politics For Media

The joy of every accomplished father is to have his children take up after him, but Seyi Tinubu, the CEO and Cofounder of Loatsad Promomedia has a different way of making his father proud. Born on 13th October 1985, to Bunmi Oshonaike and the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Seyi seems to be steering clear of politics.

By the sheer circumstance of his birth, Seyi had the means to attend some of the best schools at home and abroad. He began his education at St. Saviour’s School Lagos before moving over to the UK where he studied at the Holmewood School, London, and Milton Abbey, Dorset, UK.

He received an LLB from the University of Buckingham, United Kingdom, in 2011, and was called to bar in 2013. To further cement his legal career, he returned to his alma mater and acquired Masters in Law, (LLM). But once he was through with his legal education, Seyi decided not to practice as a lawyer, instead, he chose the path of entrepreneurship as a media practitioner.

In an interview with The Business Year, he stated that although he studied Law in university, he wanted to break away from the norm and do something that will be innovative and improve Nigeria as a whole. He figured out that the best way to achieve this was by helping businesses get ultimate exposure through outdoor and digital advertising.

This idea led him to co-found an outdoor advertising company, Loatsad Promomedia, which engages in outdoor and digital advertising services. It wasn’t long before the company was endorsed to practice in Lagos with the mandate of the Lagos State Advertising Agency (LASAA). In 2019, Loatsad acquired E-motion Advertising, which was founded by Nigerian ace entrepreneur, Sim Shagaya. The acquisition and consolidation of the two advertising companies only point to the fact that Seyi is planning to be around for the long run.

Talking about what keeps him going on the path to greatness, he once wrote on his LinkedIn page: “I always go over the ideas I have, always had and those I gathered over the years; and I recollect what it is that has led me to where I am today. Some of them have either materialized and some may have not, but I never let this discourage me”.

Despite having easy access to the corridors of power, Seyi is calculative and focused on building a life of his own. He got married in August 2016 to his Lebanese-Nigerian heartthrob, Layal Holm at a 19th-century Villa Erba in Lake Como, Italy. Layal is also an entrepreneur who founded Tots Toys, a children’s educational toyshop. Together they founded the Noella Foundation which aims at driving change through entrepreneurship, innovation, and sustainable ideas. The couple welcomed their first daughter, Amira in 2017, and are expecting their second child.

In November 2019, Seyi was lauded as a dutiful son after he unveiled his biological mother, Bunmi Oshonaike by treating her to a resounding 60th birthday celebration. It was gathered that Seyi is the love child of Bunmi, an A-list air hostess of her day and Bola Tinubu.

His choice of not joining the rest of the family in partisan politics has raised a lot of questions about where this leaves his father’s legacy. Tinubu’s family is close to what you will call the Nigerian version of the Clintons or Bush’s of America. At least on the state level.

Having ruled Lagos for eight years and is a key political player on the national level, Tinubu has been seen as a godfather to many politicians in Lagos and around the country. It was for this reason that the Emir of Borgu, Haliru Dantoro gave him the unusual title; ‘Jagaban’, which loosely means the leader of warriors. His wife, Oluremi Tinubu has gone from being a woman leader in Lagos to becoming a Senator at the National Assembly for eight years.

As Tinubu climbed to the zenith of politics in Nigeria, it was expected that one of the next-generation of Tinubu men would rise to continue his legacy. But sadly, in October 2017, Tinubu lost his first son, Babajide Tinubu to a sudden heart attack in London. The political stalwart seemed to have been robbed of a possible heir, but there was hope. He still had another son that could step into his shoes — Seyi Tinubu.

However, Seyi has demonstrated over time that politics might not be in his purview. Early last year, rumours propelled by a group that identifies itself as the Free Lagos Movement, alleged that Tinubu was preparing Seyi as the next governor of Lagos in 2023. But the rumour didn’t hold for long as he was visibly detached from the political circle and instead remained well invested in building his media business.

But there are no guarantees that Seyi Tinubu will not delve into politics later on. His father, Tinubu did not join politics until his early 40s. This was after an illustrious career of working for the likes of Arthur Andersen, Deloitte and rising to become an executive at Mobil Oil Nigeria.

Perhaps Seyi will never follow the political legacy of his father, but if he expands his horizon wide enough, he’ll most likely build another angle to his father’s influence using a totally unexpected industry, OOH — seeing that Tinubu already has big plays in broadcast media through TVC and print media through The Nation newspaper.