Alleged Cocaine Dealer Is Sanwo-Olu’s ‘Beautiful’ Aide, Journalist Claims

By Tayo OLU On Mar 15, 2019

Babajide-Sanwo-Olu-And-Funke-Philips — L-R: Lagos Governor-elect Babajide Sanwo-Olu seated next to Funke Philips

Mrs Olufunke Phillips, the digital manager of Lagos State Governor-elect, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, is allegedly a cocaine dealer and a fugitive, a Nigerian journalist has claimed.

The journalist, Ruona Meyer, took to Twitter on Friday morning to dissociate herself from Philips whom she claimed she previously had “business dealings” with.

Olufunke Philips [Photo: Twtter/@FunkePhilips]

Philips’s Twitter bio reads that she is a “mum of 3 beautiful girls, Digital Strategist, Social & Political Commentator, Coffee and Wine lover.”

Meyer, in her tweets, claimed not to be aware of Philips’ alleged past drug dealings before engaging her services in 2015, and which lapsed in 2016.

Meanwhile, according to reports, Philips jumped bail after being charged in 2007 by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) with illegal possession of 3.14 kilogrammes of cocaine.

She was said to have been arraigned alongside 25 other “drug barons” before Justice P.I Ajoku of the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court in 2007.

The reports said Philips and the 25 others escaped after they were granted bail by the said court, thereby stalling their trial.

Meyer claims she decided to end the business relationship she had with the Lagos governor-elect’s aide after learning of her ways. Checks on Philips’ twitter handle @FunkePhilips shows she hasn’t responded to the former’s outburst.

Below are a series of tweets by Meyer.

1/29 I’m making this PUBLIC disclaimer to FULLY dissociate myself from business dealings I had with @FunkePhillips in 2015/2016, which I terminated in 2016…
— Ruona J. Meyer (@RGAMeyer) March 15, 2019

2/29…after I found out @FunkePhillips is facing COCAINE smuggling charges (with a 2009 court case); and on 4 July 2011, @ndlea_nigeria listed her as skipping bail. Link below, full screenshots to come: https://t.co/oebJipgkYG pic.twitter.com/8WGeROs7HZ
— Ruona J. Meyer (@RGAMeyer) March 15, 2019

3/29 In 2015, I originated and conceptualised a blog and event portal on the business of drinking, from a female perspective. I needed a face for it, as I was not based in Nigeria. This is where @FunkePhillips came in. I later called it The Beverage SPACE (TBS) @beveragespace
— Ruona J. Meyer (@RGAMeyer) March 15, 2019

4/29 I set up all email, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook accounts, paid a designer to make a logo (seen here for August 2015), everything. All @FunkePhillips had to do was go to events/bars, send in little notes, writings. pic.twitter.com/DwP7899O7R
— Ruona J. Meyer (@RGAMeyer) March 15, 2019

5/29 I handled the blog, edited written copy, tapped my contacts in Corporate Communications, PR & media in general, to boost our networks. @FunkePhillips had no money at the time, so I handled practically all costs…
— Ruona J. Meyer (@RGAMeyer) March 15, 2019

6/29…including domain hosting, calls to contacts, sending proposals for sponsored events planning hangouts, generating content ideas and even doing interviews from Germany with my Nigerian contacts.
— Ruona J. Meyer (@RGAMeyer) March 15, 2019

7/29 We started to make progress in a very short time; I flew into Nigeria, arranged meetings with my contacts, I will not mention them here, as they are private people and I may need their private testimony for court.
— Ruona J. Meyer (@RGAMeyer) March 15, 2019

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8/29 But each time I told them I’d be working underground, as I was based outside, working on my day job anyway, and so @FunkePhillips would be TBS’ face. She attended some meetings, and was aware.
— Ruona J. Meyer (@RGAMeyer) March 15, 2019

9/ 29 Soon, we were about to get into signing partnerships, when my manager in Germany reminded me to do a character check on @FunkePhillips. I remembered I'd heard some absurd rumours, and went online to check…
— Ruona J. Meyer (@RGAMeyer) March 15, 2019

10/29 I discovered @FunkePhillips was arrested in a Lagos airport with 3.14kgs of cocaine, and skipped bail, prompting then @ndlea_nigeria chairman Ahmadu to list her among wanted “drug barons” in July 2011. News story attached pic.twitter.com/PRyUsIogeP
— Ruona J. Meyer (@RGAMeyer) March 15, 2019

11/29 The report states that the information that @FunkePhillips and other drug barons were on the loose was corroborated by then @ndlea_nigeria spokesperson Mitchell Ofoyeju (@mitchelljnr) cc @dg_ndlea
— Ruona J. Meyer (@RGAMeyer) March 15, 2019

11/29 I next used my contacts in the courts and prisons to legally crosscheck these facts, and presented the situation to @FunkePhillips, asking her to explain. See her case file number photo: pic.twitter.com/lkbeAA7ro4
— Ruona J. Meyer (@RGAMeyer) March 15, 2019

12a/29 In private chats I'll reserve for court, @FunkePhillips said she “went through a lot to settle the case.” I replied that the only way the case could be settled was if she was ACQUITTED, or SERVED TIME, but not so, according to @ndlea_nigeria I reminded her.
— Ruona J. Meyer (@RGAMeyer) March 15, 2019

12b/29 Attached are screenshots that show that weeks after @ndlea_nigeria noted her as a “drug baron” on the lam, @FunkePhillips was online, on social media. pic.twitter.com/6qrMnQ98fX
— Ruona J. Meyer (@RGAMeyer) March 15, 2019

14/29 Specifically, I told @FunkePhillips I would pay off those I had contracted to work for us, handle all the bills, take down everything to do with TBS – I wanted NOTHING more to do with a fugitive…
— Ruona J. Meyer (@RGAMeyer) March 15, 2019

13/29 I therefore asked @FunkePhillips for her documents of acquittal. She responded that this was the work of her enemies. With such answers, I told her I could NEVER work with her on any basis; we needed to cut all ties immediately.
— Ruona J. Meyer (@RGAMeyer) March 15, 2019

15/29 …even if Nigeria is mediocre enough to allow people like @FunkePhillips with a pending drug case walk the streets freely. This absurdity was not going to be my norm.
— Ruona J. Meyer (@RGAMeyer) March 15, 2019

16/29 I told @FunkePhillips that in fact I did not care what happened in Nigeria. I cared about my career and life in Europe, where even the whiff of an association with criminality is just as bad as criminality.
— Ruona J. Meyer (@RGAMeyer) March 15, 2019

17/29 Therefore, over subsequent communications, particularly through mutual friends, I asked her to make sure she never referred to me as someone she worked with, never referred to or made similarities to TBS…
— Ruona J. Meyer (@RGAMeyer) March 15, 2019

18/29 … to ensure she never used any similar idea or contacts made, so that people would not subconsciously associate me with her, as we had gone far. @FunkePhillips agreed. I added she was a fraud, and must do right by the law.
— Ruona J. Meyer (@RGAMeyer) March 15, 2019

19/29 HOWEVER I thereafter had major surgery, job moves, and JUST discovered that in fact, shortly after this, @FunkePhillips set up THE BEVERAGE ROOM (TBR), using many ideas, & in some instances, even same contacts.
— Ruona J. Meyer (@RGAMeyer) March 15, 2019

20/29 Worse still, when I raised the issue 72 hours ago, contacts have since come to tell me they thought I was still a silent partner at TBR, and that is why they joined online groups, bought t-shirts, went to and had events, etc.
— Ruona J. Meyer (@RGAMeyer) March 15, 2019

21/29 To be clear: I publicly (via social media) tagged @FunkePhillips, asking her to pull down TBR, because it is a rip-off of TBS, and she knows why she has to: Intellectual property theft, and the matter of GROSS criminality.
— Ruona J. Meyer (@RGAMeyer) March 15, 2019

22/29 @FunkePhillips and her associates have since said I am doing it because I am “jealous” and I want to pull her down because I heard she is an aide to Lagos state governor-elect @jidesanwoolu. FOR THE RECORD: I ONLY JUST BECAME AWARE OF THIS.
— Ruona J. Meyer (@RGAMeyer) March 15, 2019

Babajide Sanwo-Olu Funke Phillips Olufunke Phillips Ruona Meyer