Elon Musk has racked up a host of investors to back his $44 billion Twitter acquisition, which he pulled off with a personal fund and backing from Morgan Stanley. Musk’s Twitter takeover, which is centered on free speech, faced resistance from Twitter board and criticism from a large section of people who believe it would heighten racial hatred, disinformation, bullying among other social media vices.

Having scaled the hurdles by defeating Twitter board’s poison pill and securing the funding, Musk is now receiving interest from individuals and companies willing to bet big to support his aim.

Equity investors have provided $7 billion according to a SEC filing. Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, who is also an investor in Tesla through the Lawrence J Ellison Revocable Fund, leads other investors with $1 billion. Other investors include Sequoia Capital with $800 million, VyCapital with $700 million, Binance with $500 million and Andreessen Horowitz with $400 million amongst others.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao told the Financial Times on Thursday that the half a billion dollars that the crypto exchange is investing is a blank check as he has not heard so much as a business plan from Musk.

“We, from our friends, heard that [Musk] was looking for third party investors, and are we interested?,” he recounted to the British newspaper. “We immediately said that we are. He didn’t have a plan for Twitter. There isn’t, like, a business plan. So it wasn’t that type of discussion.”

Zhao said that Binance will support Musk however he chooses to use the funds and is especially excited about the potential of a cryptocurrency tie-in with Twitter.

“It’s more of a blank check,” Zhao told the outlet. “After the investment…Elon will figure out what he wants to do, and we’ll be supportive of that.”

“We hope to be able to play a role in bringing social media and web3 together and broadening the use and adoption of crypto and blockchain technology,” he said in a tweet on Thursday.

Other investors have also expressed optimism that Musk’s takeover will turn the fortune of the bird app around for investors. Musk has a pedigree of running successful companies. Having started many successful companies, including Paypal, SpaceX and Boring Company from scratch, the world’s richest man doesn’t need much words to convince investors.

Musk said on Tuesday that he plans to monetize Twitter in a way that it will serve casual users free while governments and businesses will be charged a slight fee.

The new infusion of funds will certainly reduce the $12.5 billion margin loan he had received from Morgan Stanley and other banks, cutting it down to $6.25 billion. He also increased his total equity commitment to $27.25 billion.

Meanwhile, Orlando Police Pension Fund has sued Musk and Twitter over the acquisition. The proposed class action filed in Delaware Chancery Court is seeking to stop the acquisition on the ground that Delaware law forbade a quick merger.

Per Reuters, the Police Pension Fund said Musk had agreements with other big Twitter shareholders, including his financial adviser Morgan Stanley and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, to support the buyout.

The fund said those agreements made Musk, who owns 9.6% of Twitter, the effective “owner” of more than 15% of the company’s shares. It said that required delaying the merger by three years unless two-thirds of shares not “owned” by him granted approval.

Morgan Stanley owns about 8.8% of Twitter shares and Dorsey owns 2.4%.

The lawsuit, which includes Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and CEO Parag Agrawal as defendants, also seeks to declare that Twitter directors breached their fiduciary duties, and recoup legal fees and costs, according to Reuters.

Dorsey has openly supported Musk’s bid to acquire Twitter, saying he is the “singular solution” he trusts to lead the company. Musk is said to be in talk with Dorsey for a possible investment in the acquisition.

Sanlam, the largest non-banking financial services company in Africa, and Allianz, one of the world’s leading insurers and asset managers have agreed to combine their current and future operations across Africa to create the largest Pan-African non-banking financial services entity on the continent.

With this collaboration, customers across Africa will benefit from the expertise and financial strength of two respected and well-known brands. The joint venture will house the business units of both Sanlam and Allianz in the African countries where one or both companies have a presence. Namibia will be included at a later stage and South Africa is excluded from the agreement.

The combined operations of Sanlam and Allianz will create a premier Pan-African non-banking financial services entity, operating in 29 countries across the continent. The joint venture will be the largest Pan-African insurance player and is expected to be ranked in the top three, in the majority of the markets where the entity will operate. The entity is expected to have a combined total group equity value (GEV) in excess of 33 billion South African rand (approximately 2 billion euros).

Sanlam and Allianz will leverage each other’s strengths to unlock synergies and provide customers with best-in-class, innovative insurance solutions and technical excellence. The joint venture will create value for all stakeholders through greater economies of scale, broader geographic presence, larger combined market share, and a more diversified product offering.

Combining Sanlam’s expertise in Africa with Allianz’s global capabilities and insurance solutions, particularly for multinational businesses, the partnership aims to increase life and general insurance penetration, accelerate product innovation and drive financial inclusion in high-growth African markets.

“In line with Sanlam’s stated ambition to be a leading Pan-African financial services group, the proposed joint venture will enable us to take a significant step towards realising that ambition. It will also strengthen our leadership position in multiple key markets that are core to our Africa strategy, building quality and scale where it matters. We are delighted to have Allianz as partners and believe their expertise and financial strength will add tremendous value to our businesses,” said Sanlam Group CEO, Paul Hanratty.

Member of the Board of Management of Allianz SE, Christopher Townsend said among other things, the joint venture will help the Allianz to find a foothold in key markets.

“In accordance with our enterprise strategy to expand our leadership position through scale and new partnership models, Allianz is pleased to accelerate its growth in this important region through a partnership with the undisputed market leader. Sanlam’s capabilities extend our local reach and market penetration, and the joint venture allows us to establish leading positions in key growth markets for Allianz.

“Further, Sanlam shares our company values, our purpose of securing the future for our clients, and our long-term, generational approach to growing in new markets, he said”

The chairmanship of the joint venture partnership will rotate every two years between Sanlam and Allianz. The CEO of the entity will be named in due course. The agreement is subject to certain conditions precedent, including but not limited to the receipt of required approvals from competition authorities, financial/insurance regulatory authorities and any customary conditions that Sanlam and/or Allianz would be required to fulfill for each jurisdiction.

Barely five days before the All Progressives Congress (APC) closes the sale of its expression of interest and nomination forms, three more aspirants have declared their intention to run for the presidential ticket of the party.

The rash of declarations has raised the fear of a game plan to compel the ruling party into throwing its presidential race open to aspirants from all sections of the country.

The new entrants into the race are a former National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole; the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio; and the Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi; erstwhile Governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun.

Also, the Jigawa State Governor, Mohammed Badaru, obtained the APC presidential forms at the party’s national headquarters on 4^th May 2022 in Abuja after announcing his decision to contest just the previous night to the day, in Dutse, his State Capital.

According to various sources, Senate President Ahmad Lawan has concluded arrangements to make his declaration this week, while the Minister of Science and Technology, Ogbonnaya Onu disclosed he would formally announce his interest in the same office on Friday, 6^th May 2022.

Earlier on Tuesday, 3^rd May 2022, a businessman, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, joined the rush and abruptly declared his bid.

The new entrants this week have taken the number of aspirants to about 23 who may participate in the APC presidential primary, which will be held between May 30 and June 1 in Abuja.

As of the evening of Wednesday being May 4, 2022, six of them had picked the APC presidential forms after paying N100 million each.

The aspirants who have grabbed the party’s presidential forms are: the National Leader of the party, Bola Tinubu; Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello; Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi; Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba, and the Jigawa State Governor, Mohammed Badaru.

The sixth, a female aspirant, Uju Kennedy picked her forms after paying the sum of N30 million. It’s noteworthy that the party had said female aspirants would only pay for the expression of interest forms.

Other aspirants reportedly set to pick the forms include Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige; former Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha; Cross River State Governor, Ben Ayade; a former House of Representatives Speaker, Dimeji Bankole; a former Governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun; including other chieftains of the party such as Ihechukwu Chima, Usman Iwu, Mr Tein Jack-Rich and Adamu Garba II.

It’s worthy of note that five of the aspirants are from the Northern part of the country, while 18 are from the South. The entrance of the northern aspirants feeds speculation that the party is under pressure to throw its presidential primary open to all comers.

The APC was assumed to have zoned its presidential ticket to the South after it announced earlier this year that its northern and southern zones would swap the party offices they were holding at the National Convention of the party on March 26.

The arrangement led to the emergence of Sen. Abdullahi Adamu as the National Chairman of the party, the first person from the North to hold the office since the party was formed in 2014.

However, just penultimate week, Friday, 29^th April 2022, Sen. Adamu made a u-turn, saying the party was yet to decide on zoning, a statement that drew criticisms from across the South.

Responding to the statement, the Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu warned the party against throwing the race open or zoning the presidency to the North.

Based on reliable reports, the APC is expected to decide on the party’s zoning formula before the presidential primary.

A similar situation is going on in the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) where five of the 17 aspirants who had picked the party’s presidential forms are from the North.

Although the party set up a committee headed by the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom to advise it on the zoning issue, the sale of the forms to the Northern aspirants indicates that the primary race of the party has been thrown open to all the zones in the country.

From my observation, the APC is of the view that if the party zones the presidential ticket to the South, while the opposition PDP throws theirs open to all comers, it would give the latter an undue advantage over the former.

In other words, the ruling party wants to be extremely careful over the zoning issue, hence would want to take their time to decide on it. They have understood that the PDP would leverage on any mistake made by the party to ensure their (PDP’s) victory at the polls come 2023.

Whatever the case might be, I would advise the APC to consult widely before taking their final decision. But while they do so, they must understand that the party’s chairmanship position had already been given or zoned to the North, hence the need not to rob the South their rightful entitlement.