A Bloomberg investigation has linked Oluwaseyi Tinubu, the son of President-elect Bola Tinubu, to the purchase of a fraud-linked $10.8 million (£9 million) property in London, UK, which Buhari’s “government was seeking to confiscate as part of a probe into one of the biggest corruption scandals in the West African nation’s history.”
Seyi was said to have purchased the property in 2017 through Aranda Overseas Corp. — an offshore company he is named as a main shareholder.
Bloomberg said that at the time of purchase, FG was seeking to arrest the property’s former owner, Kolawole Aluko over oil money fraud of more than $1.5 billion. FG was also “attempting to confiscate the upscale real estate and other assets” it suspected had been acquired by Aluko with the “profits of crime.”
The investigation noted that there is no suggestion that Tinubu “was personally involved” in the acquisition of the property.
A 2021 report by Premium Times however said Tinubu resided in the property during a medical trip to London and that Buhari had visited him in the 7,000-square foot property in August 2021.
According to the Bloomberg report, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), in 2016, secured an order to seize the property, among others, from Kola Aluko, an ally of Diezani Alison-Madueke, former minister of petroleum.
It went on to say that Seyi bought the property “while forfeiture order was still in force.”
“Early in Buhari’s first term, his administration initiated legal cases against Diezani Alison-Madueke, who served as oil minister for five years until 2015, and two businessmen — Aluko and Olajide Omokore — who won lucrative contracts during her tenure,” the report reads in part.
“The US government said in a 2017 forfeiture lawsuit filed in Texas that the pair bribed the minister by funding her “lavish” lifestyle and failed to pay the state energy company for most of the crude they received.
“In June 2016, a federal judge in the capital, Abuja, granted a request by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to seize more than a dozen properties that Aluko had acquired in Nigeria and abroad, including the one in St. John’s Wood. That forfeiture order was still in force when Tinubu’s son bought the house out of receivership 16 months later.”
“While Buhari was elected on a pledge to tackle widespread graft, the country’s ranking in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index has deteriorated over the past eight years.”
Bloomberg said that Bola Tinubu’s spokesman and Oluwaseyi Tinubu did not comment on the report. Also, Aranda’s agent in the UK declined to comment citing confidentiality rules.
Ifunanya Ikueze is an Engineer, Safety Professional, Writer, Investor, Entrepreneur and Educator.
