From friends to foes: How business, money split Diiadem, Dabota

By Ihuoma Inyama

What started as a close friendship between The Real Housewives of Lagos stars Adeola “Diiadem” Adeyemi and Dabota Lawson has turned into a public dispute involving money, business opportunities, bloggers and allegations of betrayal.

The two beauty entrepreneurs reportedly became close after meeting through the beauty industry before eventually finding themselves on the same cast of the third season of The Real Housewives of Lagos. Their friendship was previously visible online, with both women appearing together and publicly supporting each other’s businesses.

That relationship, however, appears to have broken down, with the pair recently unfollowing each other on social media.

Neither woman initially explained what caused the fallout, but the situation became public after Diiadem took to Snapchat to address what she described as online attacks and attempts to damage her reputation.

Diiadem Brings the Fallout Online

Diiadem accused Dabota of having a role in information about her reaching bloggers and questioned what she described as a pattern of involving blogs in personal disagreements.

She also revisited a N5 million transfer previously associated with Dabota’s birthday gesture towards her.

According to Diiadem, she initially celebrated the money publicly but was later told that it was expected to be returned. She said she immediately sent it back.

Her frustration appeared to go beyond the financial issue, however, as she alleged that information concerning her had been shared with bloggers.

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The situation became particularly sensitive for Diiadem when an image of her daughter appeared on a blog. She expressed distress over the incident and made it clear that she did not want her child involved in the dispute.

Dabota Challenges Her Claims

Dabota subsequently responded, asking Diiadem to clearly identify what she believed she had done to cause the breakdown in their relationship.

She pointed to a funding opportunity as one possible source of tension, explaining that she had secured financing from a company that Diiadem had also approached but allegedly did not complete the required process for.

Dabota also mentioned changes to her own business, including renovating and rebranding her store, as well as launching a new product or innovation that she said she had personally shown Diiadem.

She rejected aspects of the accusations involving bloggers and challenged Diiadem to provide evidence supporting the claims made against her.

Dabota also referenced her previous disagreement with Sophia Momodu, insisting that she had addressed that matter directly on The Real Housewives of Lagos rather than hiding behind blogs.

As the exchange continued, previous financial dealings between the former friends also became part of the public argument.

Diiadem alleged that she once borrowed N1 million from Dabota during a meeting because she could not complete a transfer at the time.She said that when she eventually repaid the money, she sent N1.5 million and added extra money for gifts for Dabota’s daughter.

Diiadem also questioned Dabota’s version of events surrounding money allegedly sprayed at her party, suggesting that there were disagreements over what happened to the funds afterwards.

The former friends also disagreed over a $10,000 funding opportunity and a project involving content creator Jarvis.Diiadem claimed Dabota had wanted to be involved in the project and became upset when she was not invited.

At this point, there appears to be no single incident that completely explains the collapse of the friendship.

Instead, their competing accounts point to a collection of unresolved disagreements involving money, business opportunities, and expectations between friends and, ultimately, trust.

And that may be the most interesting part of the entire fallout.

Diiadem and Dabota were not simply friends. They were also women operating in the same beauty and lifestyle space, with both building businesses and public identities.

The disagreement between Diiadem and Dabota has now moved from private conversations to Snapchat posts, blogs and public commentary, leaving fans to piece together two very different versions of the same friendship.

For now, neither side appears ready to accept responsibility for the breakdown.