At the height of his fame and wealth, Goddy Anabor, the publisher of now-rested Hearts Magazine, was the toast of musicians and Lagos big babes because of his generosity of heart and his large pocket.
Goddy, who is now a taxi driver on the streets of Lagos, allegedly made money from Yahoo, known as 419 at the time.
When asked about his fraud background and how he made money
“Goddy waxed philosophically that Yahoo is not a crime; rather, he collected from those who stole from his ancestors.”
What a defense!
He invested the money by starting different businesses, including the
1) The Heart Magazine, a romance soft-sell publication that gave the defunct Hints Magazine a big run for its money
My generation grew up reading both Hints and Heart magazines, as it was our first exposure to sex and a platform that taught us sex education and everything we needed to know about sex.
2) Goddy Anabor founded a color printing business that printed for the This Day newspaper, the Punch newspaper, and many other media publications.
3) He also had a security company and was among the pioneers, even though security guard companies have not become mainstream.
4) He was a big player in the real estate business in Lagos with over 100 buildings to his name.
Just one man.
But beyond all these companies, Goddy was rich in every word of them.
He once confessed that he had 3 billion naira at Equity Bank in 1990.
3 billion naira of those in that era are equivalent to 70 billion today.
That was how rich he was.
He was the only Nigerian socialite at that era who had foreign ambassadors posted to Nigeria attending his wild parties.
Nigerian women, especially Lagos’ big babies, who are today our mothers and grandmothers, loved him.
He takes care of his women and empowers them as well.
He had a retinue of babes as side chicks, as it was said that he could camp a babe at the Sheraton hotel without seeing her for 3 months because there were so many camped in different guest houses and hotels in Lagos, and he was taking turns sleeping with them, one after the other.
So you need to be patient before it’s your turn to enjoy his rich, royal penis.
The Sheraton Hotel loved him as well; he was their biggest individual customer and always had guests staying over at the hotel.
He once paid a bill of 86 million naira for his guests at that hotel.
He was so big that he had a permanent room which incurs daily bills at Sheraton in the 90’s
This was at a time when the dollar was 86 naira to one dollar.
Owambe parties are not complete without him.
He was a spender and could spend 1 million naira in one swoop without looking back.
Shina Peter and Sunny Ade were his favorites.
To his credit, he made a lot of men by taking them out of poverty.
Car dealers also loved him. He drove luxury cars and was always among the first to drive a new Rolls-Royce in Nigeria whenever the manufacturer released it.
He had up to 59 cars in his garage, which include Bentleys, SUVs, and Rolls-Royces.
He was the Odogwu of the 1990s as he lived life.
Today, Goddy, who is 62, can only reminisce of the good days, as all he has now are memories of the lavish life that he once lived and the women he once slept with.
He is now a shadow of himself as he drives a taxi in Lagos to pay his bills.
All his hangers-on, sycophants, girlfriends, side chicks, and even the men he raised from poverty have abandoned him to his poverty except one, Mike Biggy, who lives somewhere in Akowonjo. He rented a house for him and takes care of his bills.
This was a man who used to have properties in GRA Ikeja and Allen Avenue; many of them were guest houses (there was no Lekk at that time), but today he is living at the mercy of his benefactor.
All his properties have been sold off at a given-away price because Goddy’s friends knew he was broke and so leveraged that to buy the properties at a ridiculously below-market price.
Also, he had a drug addiction problem, so he was selling the properties at a ridiculous price to feed his addiction.
His wife, Anthonia, who was a party animal, abandoned him too as she moved with the kids abroad.
Obviously, the attraction for her was the man’s money, and immediately he fell into hard times. She disappeared with the kids to the UK, where they now live.
Goody also alleged that his wife was part of his downfall, as she colluded with the managers of his business to steal him dry before running away to the UK when the money ran out.
Goddy Aniabor’s “Grace to Grass” story is a lesson for my generation to ponder.
Stay away from Yahoo and fraud lifestyle.
Fraud does not pay.
It is a short-term solution and pleasure, and all that money will end up going down the drain, just like it was made.
It was easy for Goddy to lose everything because he did not work hard for it; rather, he made it through fraud, which is the easy way.
The only way to be wealthy and stay wealthy is to invest and be financially smart.
Building wealth is hard and a marathon, not a sprint but when you succeed, it is rewarding and worth it.
Anything more than this is a fluke and not sustainable.
