EXCLUSIVE: Lagos Governor’s Chief of Staff Tayo Ayinde Builds Hotel, Owns, Web of Companies, Millions in Personal Bank Transfers in Violation of Code of Conduct

Secrets Reporters

Corporate records and banking trails examined by this newspaper have revealed an extensive network of private companies linked to Mr. Tayo Akinmade Ayinde, the Chief of Staff to Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, alongside specific financial movements between one of those companies and accounts associated with him and his former wife in violation of code of conduct of public office holder.

Ayinde, born on 24 August 1964 in Alausa, Ikeja, has held the powerful position of Chief of Staff since May 2019, when Sanwo-Olu first assumed office, and was retained for the second term.

According to Corporate Affairs Commission filings referenced in the investigation, Ayinde is a director or significant figure in multiple private limited companies, several of which share the registered address of No. 5, Ladoke Akintola Street, G.R.A., Ikeja, Lagos. Infinity-Plus Nigeria Limited (RC 629947), registered on 28 July 2005, lists Tayo Akinmade Ayinde and Ayinde Samuel Akinmade as directors.

Bank records tied to the company show First Bank account 2026991887 and Polaris Bank account 1770159221, the latter linked to the telephone number 08022903706, which matches Ayinde’s known contact, and the same GRA address. Marvelous General Business Limited (RC 740823), registered on 10 April 2008 at the same address, lists Tayo Akinmade Ayinde together with Ayinde Titilola Mercy, Ayinde Damilola, Ayinde Oyinkansola Oluwatimilehin and Ayinde Abiola Olanrewaju as directors.

Watercress Hotel International Limited (RC 983308), registered on 29 September 2011 (with related filings noting 2019 activity), and Watercress Metro Hotel Limited (RC 983255) both list Tayo Akinmade Ayinde and Ayinde Samuel Akinmade among directors.

Infinity Luxury Apartments Limited (RC 857165), registered on 3 December 2009, and Trip Payless Limited (RC 1532587), registered on 17 October 2018 at a nearby GRA address, similarly feature Ayinde and Samuel Akinmade. Clapton Independent School Limited (RC 1387714), registered on 24 January 2017, records Ayinde Tayo Akinmade as a director appointed on 3 February 2023 alongside Ebiai Christiana Irekhia. A United Kingdom entity, Overland Cars Ltd, is also associated with the family network in the findings.

Watercress Hotel & Suites in Ikeja operates as a functioning hospitality business and has hosted official and political events, including a 2026 courtesy visit by the APC Youth Network West Africa at which Ayinde was conferred the title of Life Patron. In 2025 the company, through Executive Director Samuel Ayinde, announced a franchise agreement with IHG Hotels & Resorts for the development of a 119-room Crowne Plaza Lagos Ikeja, scheduled to open in early 2028 and to be managed in partnership with Valor Hospitality Partners.

Further examination of bank records associated with Infinity-Plus Nigeria Limited’s Polaris Bank account 1770159221 produced three notable transactions. On 17 June 2015 the company transferred N80 million to the personal account of Ayinde Titilayo, identified in the findings as Ayinde’s former wife. In 2016 the same company account received a credit of N20 million from a personal account titled Tayo Akinmade Ayinde. On 3 December 2019 Infinity-Plus Nigeria Limited paid 13 million naira from the Polaris account into Ayinde’s personal bank account. These movements occurred both before and after Ayinde assumed the office of Chief of Staff in 2019.

Under the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), every public officer is required to submit a written declaration of all properties, assets and liabilities to the Code of Conduct Bureau immediately upon taking office, at the end of every four years, and at the end of the term of office. Paragraph 2(b) of Part I also states that a public officer shall not, except where permitted by the Constitution, “engage or participate in the management or running of any private business, profession or trade.”

The Code further provides that a public officer shall not put himself in a position where his personal interest conflicts with his duties and responsibilities, and that any property or assets acquired after a required declaration that cannot be fairly attributed to income, gift or loan approved under the Code shall be deemed to have been acquired in breach unless the contrary is proved. As Chief of Staff, Ayinde occupies a position at the centre of the Lagos State executive, coordinating policy implementation and serving as a key bridge between the governor and the machinery of government.

No public record has been located confirming whether the network of companies, the hotel operations, or the specific inter-account transfers detailed above appear in Ayinde’s asset declarations filed with the Code of Conduct Bureau.

The companies remain active on the corporate register, and the hospitality interests continue to expand, most recently through the Crowne Plaza franchise. The combination of longstanding directorships in multiple entities sharing a common registered address, the documented flow of tens of millions of naira between corporate and personal accounts, and Ayinde’s senior public role forms the factual core of the records examined.