LONDON, UK — Previously undisclosed documents reveal a company owned by Oluwaseyi ‘Seyi’ Tinubu, son of Nigeria’s president-elect Bola Tinubu, purchased a controversial London mansion in 2017 for £9 million ($11 million), Bloomberg reports on Tuesday, May 2, 2023.
The property, targeted by a Nigerian corruption probe for confiscation, was previously linked to one of the largest scandals in the country’s history.
Seyi Tinubu, 36, is the primary shareholder of Aranda Overseas Corp., the offshore company responsible for the transaction, according to documents viewed by the American news platform.
A lawsuit was filed by Dapo Apara, former managing director of Alpha Beta, in which Apara alleged that Alpha Beta was owned by Tinubu by proxy and he revealed benefits worth N18bn ($41.8m) and an unrelated accusation of fraudulent activities amounting to N20bn ($46.5m).
Court papers revealed that Alpha Beta paid N500 million ($2.7 million at the time) to an entity named “Aranda Resources” in 2015. “Aranda Resources” has now been exposed as belonging to Seyi Tinubu, son of Bola Tinubu.
After a protracted four-year disagreement between Tinubu and Apara, a settlement was reached, the matter was withdrawn from court in 2022, just before the presidential race went into full swing.
Bola Tinubu, for long, has denied ownership of Alpha Beta. This tax consulting company has had sole rights to work with the Lagos State Government since the days of his governorship, which lasted from 1999 to 2007.
Apara alleged that Tinubu owned the company formed in 2003 while he was governor of Lagos State.
The president-elect’s spokesman and Oluwaseyi Tinubu have not commented on the London property purchase.
The British attorney listed as Aranda’s UK representative also declined to comment, citing confidentiality rules.
Tinubu’s Drug Trafficking Record, Buhari’s ‘Anti-corruption’ Drive, and So Many Unanswered Questions
The 7,000-square-foot property in the upscale St. John’s Wood district in North London boasts a three-floor residence with an eight-car driveway, two gardens, electric gates, and a gym.
The purchase occurred as the Nigerian government sought to arrest the mansion’s former owner, businessman Kolawole Aluko, for alleged oil-trading debt exceeding $1.5 billion.
The state also aimed to seize the lavish real estate and other assets believed to have been procured using proceeds from criminal activities.
Aluko has since denied all allegations and maintains his innocence following a court judgment that acquitted a former business associate.
Bola Tinubu, set to assume office later this month, has faced continuous scrutiny regarding his family’s wealth. During the recent election campaign, Tinubu and his representatives fielded numerous questions from local and international media about the source of his fortune.
The president-elect, in defense of his wealth, claimed it was accumulated before his political career through “strategic real estate inheritance” and investments, as well as his time as an accountant at Deloitte LLP and as an executive at the Nigerian subsidiary of Mobil Oil in the ’80s and ’90s.
In a pre-election BBC interview, Tinubu likened his financial success to the likes of investment guru Warren Buffett.
Tinubu’s main electoral rival, Peter Obi of the Labour Party, is seeking his disqualification at the country’s election tribunal. The basis for Obi’s challenge is a false employment claim and a past monetary forfeiture linked to a drug trafficking case in the United States.
Tinubu, of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was declared the winner of the presidential election held on February 25, 2023, by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). However, his victory is not only challenged by Obi but also by the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
During the campaign, Tinubu claimed that part of his wealth was accumulated through his time as an accountant at Deloitte LLP. However, Deloitte has since refuted this claim, stating that Tinubu was never an employee at the company. This false claim forms one part of Obi’s argument for Tinubu’s disqualification.
The second basis for the legal challenge is a $460,000 forfeiture by Tinubu to the US government in 1993. The money, found in Tinubu’s bank accounts, was linked to heroin trafficking, leading to a substantial fine. To avoid trial, Tinubu agreed to the forfeiture.
Tinubu’s drug trafficking record has been the subject of headlines during and after the campaigns.
“In 1993, Bola Ahmed Tinubu surrendered $460,000 to the US government after a Chicago court found the income came from heroin trafficking,” Uberfacts, a random facts Twitter handle, wrote on April 10, 2023. The tweet received over 19 million views, a record-setting for @Uberfacts.
In 1993, Bola Ahmed Tinubu surrendered $460,000 to the US government after a Chicago court found the income came from heroin trafficking pic.twitter.com/aRzrTXJtl4
— UberFacts (@UberFacts) April 9, 2023
This revelation has attracted more questions on the source of wealth of Bola Tinubu. Independent journalist, David Hundeyin, took to Twitter Tuesday morning to question the suspicious real estate purchases by Tinubu’s alleged ‘unemployed’ and ‘semi-employed’ children.
Their father is a known drug kingpin with a heroin trafficking asset forfeiture on record, who maintains close ties to active figures in West African cocaine smuggling.
This is what some persons in Nigeria want to swear in as "president." pic.twitter.com/GJ1Z9zXWDM
— David Hundeyin (@DavidHundeyin) May 2, 2023
President Muhammadu Buhari, who rode into office promising to stamp out corruption, visited Mr Tinubu in this home in August 2021.
His government sought to confiscate the property as part of a probe into the “Diezani loot”, a seven-year-long conviction-less pursuit by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Diezani Alison-Madueke, a former petroleum minister, has refuted the accusations of corruption levelled against her by Buhari’s regime.
She is contesting numerous asset seizure orders issued by Nigerian judicial bodies and alleges that the anti-graft agency is impeding her attempts to represent herself in criminal trials.
This revelation about Tinubu’s ownership of this controversial $11 million London mansion is pivotal for Nigeria as it transitions power amid the ongoing fight against corruption.
This story another layer of intrigue to the ongoing scrutiny of the Tinubu family’s financial activities, leaving many Nigerians stunned and concerned about what it could mean for their nation’s future.
