For 2 weeks, Tunde Okorie, the young billionaire behind one of Nigeria’s biggest footwear brands, had sat near the red-earth road leading to the wealthy Balogun compound in Ikoyi. No one recognized him. His beard was rough, his shirt torn at the shoulder, his slippers cracked, and a dented plastic bowl rested between his knees. To drivers rushing past in tinted SUVs, he was just another poor man disturbing the beauty of the neighborhood.
But Tunde was not begging for food.
He was searching for a heart.
His parents had arranged for him to choose a wife from Chief Balogun’s family, a family praised in Lagos circles for beauty, education, and “proper upbringing.” There were 3 daughters: Amara, Bisi, and Nnenna. Everyone said any man would be lucky to marry one of them. Tunde did not trust that kind of praise. He had seen too many polished people treat waiters like dirt and smile at billionaires like saints.
