BUKKA HUT: Real cause of Laolu Martins’ death revealed, company clarifies leadership position

The cause of death of Laolu Martins, a minority stakeholder in the popular Lagos eatery, Bukka Hut, has been revealed.

A source close to the family revealed that the late consummate banker did not commit suicide as claimed by some media reports, but died as a result of a heart attack.

Martins’ death had hit social media on Wednesday, with claims that he committed suicide around 3am in the Lekki area of Lagos State. But a close family source with knowledge of his death told Ripples Nigeria that the cause of death was cardiac arrest.

The source explained that Martins slumped at Lenox Mall, and was rushed to a hospital in Lekki around past 2pm, but died 2hrs after. According to the source, Martins’ death certificate states that he died from Cardio-pulmonary arrest.

Meanwhile, Bukka Hut has clarified that Martins isn’t a founder or Chief Executive Officer of the company as claimed by several online reports. The eatery said he was a minority stakeholder.

A statement by the firm, disclosed that Rasheed Jaiyeola is the Founder and CEO of Bukka Hut, and that Jaiyeola invited Martins, and two others to invest in the eatery when it was established.

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It further revealed that Jaiyeola and Martins were co-owners of Nigerian International Securities Lid (NISL) before the former resigned from his position as director in NISL to focus on Bukka Hut in 2016.

“To clarify, Rasheed Jaiyeola is the Founder/C.E.O of Bukka Hut, a proudly Nigerian brand he built from inception in August 2011 from one outlet to 24 outlets comprising of restaurants, lounges and suya and grill spots, and a learning facility, BH Academy, as at today. He jointly owns majority shares of the company with his wife and sister.

“Bukka Hut is not a one man business as there are two other shareholders/directors but they are not involved in the daily management of the business.

“Rasheed and the late Olaolu Martins were co-owners of Nigerian International Securities Lid (NISL) and naturally Laolu was one of the three people he invited to invest in Bukka Hut when he founded it in 2011, Rasheed resigned from NISL as a director in 2016 to focus solely on building Bukka Hut while Olaolu remained the MD/C,E.O of NISL and its related businesses”, the statement reads.

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