MERCY AIGBE’s hubby, LARRY GENTRY narrates his ordeal in the hands of armed robbers

‘I thank God I am still alive’

A couple of weeks back, Mercy Aigbe’s husband and owner of upscale hotel, La Veronique, Oregun, Lagos, was attacked by armed robbers on Kudirat Abiola Way, Oregun, Lagos, while returning home from work.  According to the Ilesa, Osun born businessman, the incident was like a dream.

He opened up on this and much more when ENCOMIUM Weekly visited him at the hotel on Friday, November 22, 2013.

It is exactly seven years your hotel, La Veronique was established, how would you describe the experience and patronage?

The experience has been wonderful.  We thank God for everything.  La Veronique was established exactly November 4, 2006.  It’s seven years as you said.  And so far, so good, the business has been cool.  We thank God for the kind of patronage we have been enjoying since we started out.  I am also using this medium to express my sincere appreciation to our numerous customers, home and abroad, members of staff and everybody that has been there for us, most especially my manager, Ayo Makanjuola.  He has been a wonderful person, very nice man.  Other members of staff are also very nice and hard working. I appreciate them all, and I pray that God will continue to strengthen them so that they can do more, and much more.  I also thank God for the kind of wife and children I have.  They are also very wonderful and supportive.  May God continue to be with them.

What were the challenges before coming this far?

In the hotel business, the major challenge is power supply.  Then, Lagos State itself.  But with these challenges and even more, we’re still coping.  If the Federal Government can resolve the issue of power supply, everything will be okay and the business will move forward.

What do you think the business is still lacking and that if it’s injected it will make it stronger and better?

Honestly, the major constraint is poor supply of electricity. I don’t think the business lacks anything as it is now.  We only need to be praying that God touches the hearts of our leaders so that they can fix our electricity.

But how do you cope without regular supply of electricity?

It has not been easy.  I run the hotel with five generators, which costs a lot of money.  Also, you can imagine the kind of noise that could be generated by one generator alone, left alone five. The heavy noise all the time has been the major complaint of our customers. And the effect of the noise is felt fully because of the fact that the compound is very small.  The hotel is sitting on one and a half plots, which is too small to accommodate the effect of the five generator sets.  But we don’t have a choice because electricity supply is not regular at all.  The issue of land in Ikeja area is not easy.  If not that my mother had the building already which I later developed, it couldn’t have been easy for me to acquire.  I really thank my parents because they gave me good backing.  When my mother was alive, she did everything possible for me to make the hotel stay.  She was indeed a mother to be proud of.

Was that the reason the hotel was named after her?

Yes, she was even into the business before I developed it.

We learnt you have opened another multi-million naira hotel called Springhill in your hometown, Ilesa, Osun State.  How true is it?

That’s not true.  I am not the owner of Springhill Hotel.  It belongs to one of my brothers, Tunde Ojo. He is a guy I really love and appreciate.  He is very close and nice to me.  The hotel is even finer and bigger than La Veronique.  It has about 45 rooms while La Veronique has 32.  I really thank God for him to be able to do something wonderful like that.  By God’s grace, he will continue to grow more and more in the business.

Festive period is around the corner, has that been reflecting in your business as a hotelier?

In Lagos, no hotelier will tell you business booms during festive season because that’s the period people move out of Lagos.  The only people that you can see are those from abroad.  And in most cases, most of them don’t stay long in Lagos before they move to their various villages.  But as the season is very close now, we’re feeling the impact a little.  We thank God for everything.

What are the preparations for the season?

We have a lot of programmes lined up for the period. But most importantly, we’re planning to give awards to our regular and consistent customers, I mean those that have continued patronizing us.  They are the people that are making things happen.  We call them our ambassadors.  We want to appreciate them for their sincere patronage.  By doing that, we believe next year, they would do better.

A couple of weeks back, we learnt you were attacked by armed robbers along Kudirat Abiola Way, Oregun, Lagos, how did it really happen?

I can’t just explain but all I need is to continue thanking God for protecting me that day.  In fact, I would say it takes the grace of God for anybody to have scaled through what I experienced that night.  I really thank God that I am still alive.  I have never witnessed such a thing in my life let alone experiencing it.  When I visited the Commissioner of Police, I told him what happened to me.  He also confirmed such an incident is common along that route, and he promised to do something about it.  I couldn’t just explain how I escaped. When I told my wife about it, she was also shocked.  Even for almost four days I was shaking.  But I thank God that I wasn’t killed and I was not even injured.  They only damaged my car.

How many of them?

They were five, and all of them were armed.  They were between 21 and 22 years.  They came in one old Gallant car.  They just stopped at the middle of the road suddenly but thank God my car was strong.  I drove my Touareg jeep that night.  So, being a very strong car, there was no way they could have used their car to chase me, when I outsmarted them.  But above all, I give glory to God.

Didn’t they attempt to shoot you?

Yes, they did but God saved me. They even shot at all the tyres but they couldn’t succeed in getting me.

How did you now escape unhurt?

It’s only God that can explain that.

Were you alone in the car?

Yes, I was the only one in the car.  That’s what I think gave me the courage to move and push their car off the road.  May be if another person were to be with me that night, the story might have not been the same.

But there was a report that your wife, Mercy Aigbe was with you in the car?

No, I was alone.  I was going home from my hotel.  But after the incident, I couldn’t go again. The following day, I had to take the police to Airport Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, where it was parked.  The car was badly damaged, I spent about N500,000 to repair it.  I thought the end has come that night when I saw the guys pumping their guns at me.  It was like a dream. But something just touched my heart and said, “Lanre, move.”  That’s how I moved and pushed their car away from the road.  That’s how they started shooting sporadically.  It was when I got to Lagos Airport Hotel that I realized that all the tyres of the jeep have been damaged, and also part of the body.  Immediately, I got back to my hotel, I told the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) officials that were stationed there what happened, and we all went back to the scene of the incident.  But before we got there, they had all left with their car.

Has there been any arrest concerning that?

There is nothing like that but investigations are still in progress.

And the police have not gotten any clue yet?

Nothing yet.

Do you suspect any foul play from any corner?

There was nothing like that.  I don’t need to be thinking in that direction.  I only need to continue thanking God for His mercy and protection.

-TADE ASIFAT