Report uncovers 20 properties linked to Tinubu’s associates in UK

A report has linked the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, with 20 properties in the United Kingdom.

The investigative report published by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) on Friday revealed that the properties were bought by Tinubu’s associates in the European nation during his time as governor of Lagos from 1999 to 2007.

This came a few days after the United States-based media organisation, Bloomberg, identified Tinubu’s son, Seyi, as the major shareholder of Aranda Overseas Corporation — an offshore company used for the purchase of a $10.8 million property abroad.

The property

The OCCRP stated that 17 of the properties were bought by a director of Aranda Overseas Corporation, Oladipo Eludoyin, another associate of the president-elect, between 2004 and 2007.

It also listed the former Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola, and the incumbent, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, as some of the faces behind the Aranda Overseas Corporation in Nigeria.

Tinubu has been under public scrutiny since he won the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential ticket in June last year with several allegations bordering on drug scandal, certificate forgery, and identity scam hanging on his neck.

The report read: “OCCRP has uncovered more than a dozen other properties with links to Tinubu, mostly acquired while he served as Lagos state’s governor from May 1999 to May 2007. Tinubu’s spokesman did not respond to email and text messages seeking comment.

“Tinubu’s history is not entirely clean. He was forced to forfeit $460,000 to the U.S. government in 1993 as proceeds of narcotics trafficking, according to the ruling of a U.S. District Court in Illinois.

“However, about a year later, Abeeb Holdings Limited, an offshore company registered in Gibraltar with Tinubu as the beneficial owner, bought Flat 9 at 96-100 New Cavendish Street in London.

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“His connection to Abeeb Holdings Limited has been revealed, thanks to the Register of Overseas Entities, a new measure designed by the UK to reveal the true owners of offshore firms that hold property in the country.

“Fashola also had a hand in Aranda Resources Limited. He signed and presented the allotment of shares of Aranda Resources Limited to Nigeria’s corporate registry in December 2001. Fashola’s spokesperson did not respond to requests for comments.

“Following his term as governor, Tinubu remained an influential politician. Local media reported that he picked Babajide Sanwo-Olu and made him governor of Lagos State in 2019, despite entreaties from his party to allow Sanwo-Olu’s predecessor to continue for a second term.

“Sanwo-Olu was a director in Aranda Resources Limited until 26 days before his first day in office as governor in May 2019. His spokesperson also did not respond to requests for comment.”

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