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

Bola Tinubu, the president-elect, has again been linked to 20 properties his associates bought in the United Kingdom (UK) when he was serving as Lagos governor. 

According to an investigation published on Friday by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), 17 of the properties were bought by Oladipo Eludoyin, Tinubu’s associate and a director of Aranda Overseas Corp., between 2004 and 2007.

Earlier on Tuesday, a Bloomberg investigation exposed that Seyi, Tinubu’s son, is the main shareholder of Aranda Overseas Corp. — an offshore company he used in purchasing a $10.8 million property under probe by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). 

The OCCRP said a year after Tinubu forfeited $460,000 to the US government in 1993 as proceeds of narcotics trafficking, 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.

“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,” the investigation reads. 

“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.

“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.

The OCCRP said it later found that Eludoyin is also the beneficial owner of 17 UK properties through three offshore companies registered in the British Virgin Islands.

The organisation added that Babatunde Fashola, Tinubu’s former aide and successor, and Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the incumbent governor of Lagos, also had a hand in controlling Aranda Overseas Corp. internal affairs. 

“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 comment,” the report said.

“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.”