Date: 2015-08-22

Genuine friendship would survive any dispute or competition while true partnership would provide strength in times of trouble and confusion. It takes a man of a brave heart and unwavering allegiance to stand by a friend when the going gets tough and good times dissolve like ice in scorching sun.

The friendship between Bola Shagaya and former Nigeria's first lady, Patience Jonathan, is still waxing strong. The billionaire businesswoman seems determined to prove that true friendship exists in a realm where friendship and enmity does not last. Contrary to rumours that she has abandoned her close friend, Patience Jonathan, investigation revealed that the two remain as close as ever.

Shagaya, an Ilorin-born businesswoman remains one of the few women that are still standing by Patience Jonathan since her husband, Goodluck Jonathan, lost the presidential election. Not a few had thought that Shagaya was in the relationship for money and influence when the duo became friends at the dawn of Jonathan's emergence as Vice-President after the 2007 general election.

Their friendship was allegedly frowned upon by the then first lady of Nigeria, Turai Yar' Adua, but the latter's efforts to drive them apart were futile. To their credit, the two have remained inseparable in spite of their differences in terms of age, tribe and religion.