Reports has it that one of Nigeria’s most flamboyant multi billionaires and diplomats, Chief Antonio Oladeinde Fernandez, is dead. He
died on Tuesday in Brussels, Belgium, at the age of 79 from what a source close
to his family described as an age-related illness.
The source said he spoke to Fernandez last week and could
tell from his breathing that he was very ill, but did not expect that he would
die so soon after his conversation with the Lagos-born chief with royal roots.
Fernandez made his mark as a businessman early in life from
mining. His business interests cut across oil and gas in Angola and extensive
real estate spanning Nigeria, France, the United States, United Kingdom and
Belgium.
He was said to own an Island in New York City, a chateau
once said to have belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte in France, and a Grade A listed
home in Edinburgh. In addition to being a businessman, he was a renowned
diplomat, variously serving as Ambassador Plenipotentiary to a number of
countries in Africa.
In 1982 he was an adviser to the Angolan Government on
Economic Matters. He held the position of an adviser for two years until his
appointment as Deputy Permanent Representative of Mozambique to the United
Nations in 1984.
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