Tayo Ayeni marked his 63rd birthday with a glamorous Ikoyi celebration attended by Aliko Dangote, Dapo Abiodun and Nigeria’s elite, blending wealth, influence and quiet power
Inside Tayo Ayeni’s 63rd Birthday Bash: Where Lagos Power Brokers Gathered in Black, Bling and Billions
On Sunday night, December 28, 2025, Ikoyi did what it does best—paused, observed, and took notes.
Tayo Ayeni had turned 63.
The venue was his Ikoyi residence, tucked inside one of Lagos’ most patrician neighbourhoods, where power prefers to whisper before it speaks. The occasion was formally a birthday dinner, but in practice, it doubled as a celebration of Ayeni’s recent honorary doctorate—an academic flourish added to a life already thick with material success.
From the moment guests began arriving, it was clear this was no ordinary gathering.
Aliko Dangote walked in quietly, as men of immense influence often do. Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, proposed the toast. Senior politicians, financiers, captains of industry and society fixtures filtered in with the unhurried confidence of people who rarely need directions.
The dress code—Black and Bling—was observed with near-religious devotion. Diamonds shimmered under soft lighting. All-black tailoring dominated the room, understated but expensive. Afrobeats drifted across the waterfront, while premium champagne flowed freely, without the anxiety of rationing.
This, after all, was familiar territory.
Ayeni’s milestone birthdays have become social reference points in Lagos. His 50th and 60th birthdays set similar benchmarks. Even private family celebrations tend to draw disproportionate attention. In this city, consistency of spectacle is its own form of credibility—and Ayeni has mastered it.
Yet beyond the glitter lies the engine that built the moment.
Tayo Ayeni is best known as the chairman of Skymit Motors, the luxury automobile dealership he founded in his late 20s with a modest ₦500,000. Today, the company posts annual turnovers in the billions, catering to high-net-worth individuals, corporate fleets and Nigeria’s appetite for imported prestige.
Educated in Italy, Ayeni’s taste for luxury vehicles was refined early. But associates say it was his discipline—quiet, methodical, almost unshowy—that scaled the business. Skymit grew without noise, expanding steadily while keeping its operations tightly controlled.
There is also, by many accounts, another side.
Friends and protégés describe Ayeni as a mentor to young entrepreneurs, someone who speaks often about patience, focus and restraint. The flamboyance of the evening, they suggest, masks a deeply mercantile mindset—one shaped less by impulse and more by long-term calculation.
As the night wound down, the cake was brought out. Guests counted aloud—from one to sixty-three. Ayeni stood beside his wife, Adetutu, smiling easily. For a brief moment, the scene felt almost modest, considering the scale of power gathered around him.
By morning, Banana Island returned to its usual calm.
What lingered was not the champagne, nor the diamonds, nor even the guest list—but the pattern the evening confirmed. In Lagos, real influence rarely announces itself loudly. It arrives softly, fills the room, and leaves no doubt about who convened it. Read More
