Fresh Scandal As Report Links 20 Uk Properties To Tinubu, Fashola, Sanwo-Olu, Others

The incoming President, Bola Tinubu; Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola; Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu; a former Osun State governor, Gboyega Oyetola, and an associate, Oladipo Eludoyin, have been allegedly linked to 20 properties bought in the United Kingdom when he (Tinubu) was serving as Lagos State governor.

According to an investigative report published on Friday, May 5, by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, 17 of the properties were bought by Eludoyin, Tinubu’s long-term associate and a director of Aranda Overseas Corp., between 2004 and 2007.

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With staff members in six continents—Africa, Europe, Asia, South America, North America, and Australia—the OCCRP is a global network of investigative journalists whose primary goals include exposing corruption and deterring crime.

Seyi Tinubu, the son of Tinubu, is the primary stakeholder of Aranda Overseas Corp., an offshore entity he used to buy a $10.8 million property that is currently the subject of an EFC investigation, according to a Bloomberg investigation published on Tuesday.

Concerning the recent exposé, the OCCRP’s Friday report read, “Tinubu, whose victory in February is being challenged in court, has been keeping part of his wealth in the United Kingdom, where he and his close associates own at least 20 properties that were mostly acquired when Tinubu was the governor of Lagos State.

“OCCRP has uncovered more than a dozen other properties with links to Tinubu. Tinubu’s spokesman did not respond to email and text messages seeking comment,” the investigation reads.

“Tinubu 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,” OCCRP reports.

Through three offshore corporations registered in the British Virgin Islands, Eludoyin is also the beneficial owner of 17 properties in the UK, according to the OCCRP.

According to the group, internal issues of Aranda Overseas Corp. were also in the hands of Tinubu’s successor and former aide Fashola as well as Sanwo-Olu, the current governor of Lagos State.

“Fashola also 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.

“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,” the report said.

Eludoyin’s properties were bought between 2004 and 2007, according to the OCCRP report, while Tinubu was the governor of Lagos State. It also stated that Tinubu did not respond to a request for comment.

The report added, “Another director of Aranda Resources Limited and Aranda Overseas Corporation, Adegboyega Oyetola, was elected governor of the Nigerian southwestern state of Osun in 2018, and Tinubu was widely credited for his electoral success.

“It is not clear when he became the beneficial owner, but when Aranda Overseas Corporation was incorporated in November 1999 in the tax haven British Virgin Islands, the younger Tinubu (Seyi) was 14 and had just been admitted into Milton Abbey School in England for his secondary school education while his father (Bola Tinubu) had just spent nearly six months as the governor of Lagos State.”