Razaq Okoya and Son Fatai: Inside Their 40-Year Estrangement

Razak Okoya is a household name in Nigeria, particularly in the South West, where his Yoruba ethnic group is domiciled. He is a consummate industrialist who is known not only for his business acumen and sagacity but also for his longevity and ability to stay the course in an ever-evolving world. Having risen from a humble background and modest family to become a decorated, influential, and affluent entrepreneur, as well as a leading figure in Nigeria’s harsh, cutthroat business environment, his exemplary success story has become an enduring, defining narrative of the nation’s resilience and perseverance.

While Chief Razak is not exactly a recluse and, despite being a darling of Nigerian socialites and popular among Yoruba entertainers, especially Fuji and Juju musicians, he has lived a life relatively free of controversy and scandal. However, his acrimonious relationship with his estranged first son, Fatai, has put the family in the spotlight and exposed the rift and fragility of what many once thought was a united and happy family.

Attempts at Reconciliation and the Father-Son Relationship

On Saturday, a purported apology letter written by the son to his father went viral on social media. In the letter, Fatai begged his father for forgiveness for his past transgressions and waywardness. He asked his father to give him a chance to make it up to him and be the son he never had the opportunity to be.

Inside Four Decades of Family Separation

After the letter, Fatai featured on a TikTok live session with Yeyekuti, a social media influencer, where he recounted what transpired between him and his father that made the latter disown him and how he has repeatedly extended an olive branch and tried to mend fences and reconcile with the business mogul. He disclosed that his father’s youngest wife, Shade Okoyey, has been a hindrance to his efforts to reunite with his father, stating that she blocked him from seeing him when he attended to his 80th birthday in January, adding that his father saw him but could not say anything before Shade Okoyey sent him away.

“The last time I saw my father was in January 2026, when he celebrated his 80th birthday. When I wanted to go and greet him, I was turned back by his wife. She said I couldn’t go and see him like that; my father could not say anything. I think Shade Okoya is in control,” he said.

Fatai explained that he had tried every possible means to bury the hatchet with his father because he simply wanted to make peace with him. He claimed that his father listens to no one and that everyone tries to be in his good book.

Speaking on what led to his father disowning him and severing all ties with him, he said he had a little disagreement with his father over some money embezzled, noting that the money in question was not something he felt should draw his father’s ire, as it was a small amount. Fatai revealed that he took a little money for himself when he was younger, exuberant and reckless. He maintained that it was not even enough to buy a car and was something he believed his father could forgive.

He, however, said he incurred the wrath of his father when he refused to heed his admonition not to marry someone he did not approve of. He said his decision to go against him did irreparable damage to their familial relationship and was the beginning of the end.

Chief Razaq Okoya’s brother also joined the live session. He said Shade Okoya should not have blocked Fatai from seeing his father and that, as a woman, she should stand for the good and unity of the family and not pour fire into a raging inferno of family disunity. Fatai’s daughter, Zee, joined the live session and revealed that she had no relationship with her grandfather. She also insinuated that Shade Okoya kept standing in the way of their attempts to reach out to him. She stated that their assiduous efforts at reconciliation, which she claimed are being thwarted, are to make peace for their father, peace for her father, as she knew he missed his father after many years apart.

Fatai passionately beseeched his father and asked for an opportunity to see him. According to him, they were very close while he was growing up and that he was the only child his mother had

The host pleaded with people to help and called on Baba Ijebu, a friend of Chief Razaq Okoya, to speak with him and help facilitate a reconciliation between father and son.

Chief Razaq Okoya has never publicly addressed the issue of the estrangement from his first child, but one can easily glean from his past interview why he had a frosty and strained relationship with Fatai and other older children, as there are speculations that he also disowned four children.

The Role of Family Dynamics in the Dispute

Chief Razaq Okoya and his family

In an interview in February, the business tycoon revealed the succession plan for his conglomerate. He stated that “I don’t want my current children to fail like their senior ones.#

He disclosed that the plan is to hand over his business empire to his younger children from his last wife, Shade Okoya. Razaq Okoya explained that his children must be tutored and trained in the same practical way he built Eleganza over the years, emphasising that they hold the future of the company. “They must learn things the way we are doing it. They hold the future. 79 years old, I have to pass it on to them. I don’t want them to fail like their senior ones,” he said.

Okoya went on to outline the two major lessons he has been teaching them, noting that experience is the first thing they must acquire, followed by the discipline to stay focused, honest, determined, and punctual. “Number one is the experience. Number two, they have to learn how to be focused, honest, determined, and punctual.”

Okoya also mentioned that one of his daughters currently lives in Europe, but he ensures she returns home regularly to see the factory and understand how things are run, because he believes the real knowledge they need is here.

His succession plan was heavily criticised by some Nigerians, particularly netizens, as they believe that, for a man with such a large family- nine wives and 26 children- completely ignoring his other children, especially the older ones, and handing over his vast business empire to his last wife and his younger children will sow generational discord among the family, with many now saying the rift and reconciliation saga that has dogged the family in recent days is a glimpse of the kinds of crisis the family will be plunged into when the octogenarian dies.

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