(DEJI AROLOYE)
With her celebrity status given a nudge upwards by all the publicity that has trailed the break-up of her marriage, Tiwa Savage, if she were a Hollywood personality, would have had her house besieged by paparazzi, all pushing and shoving to get the best shots of the goings-on around the residence.
Notwithstanding, Tiwa Savage is certainly on Nigeria’s A-List of celebrities, and on her trail went a team from Sunday Sun to Haven Homes, a secluded and serene estate situated at Ikate Elegushi, Lekki, Lagos.
Right from the gate, one can see rows of beautiful houses in the estate. Two security men decked in well-starched uniform stand sentry at the gate. As The Sun crew approached, one of them walked towards the team and popped the question: “Please who do you want to see.”
He was told that the team was going see a resident of the estate, but he demanded that the person should be called on the phone before the team would be granted entry. When the many pleas of the team fell on deaf ears, The Sun crew then disclosed its mission: to see Tiwa Savage. And that instantly made him very unfriendly, and asked to know whether there was an appointment with her.
“Oga, you can’t see anyone in this estate except you call the person on phone and he or she must tell us to allow you in. Every occupant has their instruction and Tiwa Savage has given us instruction not to let anybody that comes to look for her into the estate without her permission,” the gatekeeper said with a tone of finality.
After the encounter with the gatekeeper, The Sun crew struck up a conversation with a middle-aged man seen some meters away from the gate, wanting to ascertain whether the songstress actually lives in the estate.
He said: “I am allowed to enter this estate because I work there. Tiwa Savage stays here but I haven’t seen her since the information about her marriage crisis went viral on the internet. I got to know about it like every other person.
“I saw her with her husband in December last year inside a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado SUV. Her husband was driving the vehicle out of the estate. Sometimes when I see her, I will wave at her and she would wave back. Apart from that, I don’t have a personal relationship with her.”
The worker explained that some other artistes also live in the estate: “Tiwa Savage is not the only artiste staying in this estate. We have Iyanya, Timaya, MI, AY (comedian) and others living here. Even TuFace Idibia has a house here and his wife, Annie Macaulay comes here regularly.
He added: “Some occupants of the estate bought land and built duplexes on it while others bought semi-detached duplex from the company that manages the estate. A semi-detached duplex costs from N50 million to N60 million.”
