Tongues have been wagging on social media over Seyi Tinubu’s luxury timepiece that was listed online for up to $550,000 — or N340 million at the prevailing parallel exchange rate since the CBN has restricted official rate for luxury items. 

Mr Tinubu, 36, was noticed in a March 24 Instagram post sporting the Richard Mille RM 055 as he met with some people that appeared to be his staff members. The watch was part of the custom series on sale in the name of professional golfer and Masters giant Bubba Watson.

While flaunting the .34 billion naira watch, Mr Tinubu asked his followers to “Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it’s holy ground. There’s no greater investment.”

Jewellery expert Edward Garvey told Peoples Gazette that Mr Tinubu’s watch had been sold for more than $680,000 at a point since it was introduced by the top Swiss brand in 2011.

Mr Tinubu’s exquisite preference seemed writ large across his Instagram page: he has posted photos of himself playing polo or spending the weekend in Lake Como.

Being the son of Bola Tinubu, the ruling APC presidential candidate notorious for looting Lagos’ public treasury with impunity, Nigerians could not help but be astonished by Seyi Tinubu’s exorbitant display of wealth, especially at a time of historic unemployment and abject poverty racking residents of the nation’s commercial capital. 

The federal minimum wage, the highest of the three layers of government, has stagnated at N30,000 since 2019 — or $48 and $71 for parallel and official rates, respectively.

Whereas Seyi Tinubu’s professional background remained unclear — an online profile said he obtained a law degree from Buckingham and entered the Nigerian bar in 2013 — Peoples Gazette can report that he has been a major beneficiary of his father’s apparent capture of Lagos.

In February 2021, The Gazette published bank documents highlighting Seyi Tinubu’s exploits in Lagos’ advertising market — alongside his father’s ex-aide-turned-sports ministers Sunday Dare. His father’s Alpha Beta, broadcaster TVC and metro line businesses have cornered hundreds of billions of naira from Lagos’ taxpayers since it started processing revenues for the state about 15 years ago.

Some Nigerians on social media have raised concerns over how Seyi Tinubu’s lifestyle could only be funded by public resources and how it could be an indication of more assault on the national purse should his father be elected president next February. 

Seyi Tinubu did not return a request for comment, but some of his followers were either delighted or indifferent about his lifestyle and offered to help his father’s campaign.

“I will be so much happy if I can campaign for Asiwaju sir,” an Instagram user said under the March 24 post.