Seyi Tinubu Revealed as Owner of Corruption- Linked London Mansion

Seyi Tinubu, President-elect Bola Tinubu’s son has been associated with a London firm that paid $11 million for a property in London that was previously confiscated from a notorious oil crook.

According to Bloomberg, a business outlet said Seyi Tinubu bought the property in 2017  located in North London through Aranda Overseas Corporation, an offshore shell company which was facilitated through Deutsche Bank

The property was described as a private three-floor residence in St. John’s Wood, equipped with an eight-car driveway, two gardens, electric gates and a gym.

The property had been earlier confiscated from Kola Aluko, a notorious oil dealer around 2016 who connived with former oil minister Diezani Alison-Madueke to fleece Nigeria for nearly half a decade.

President Muhammadu Buhari  shortly after assuming office in May 2015,  started going after people suspected to have illegally enriched themselves under President Goodluck Jonathan regime from 2010 t0 2015.

Mr Aluko bought the property for about $15 million in 2013, with claims that it was sold four years later for a lower price, which is unusual for such an upmarket neighbourhood. 

Bloomberg said it could not immediately find indications that the president-elect, Tinubu, was involved in the purchase, but this could strengthen critics’ arguments that Buhari was transferring stolen assets he seized from allies of his predecessor to his own allies.

Mr Tinubu has publicly claimed credit for making Mr Buhari president in 2015,which Buhari said in a push back that his victory was a collective effort. 

Several assets seized in Abuja and Lagos had also been linked to Mr Buhari’s allies, including ministers in his cabinet. 

Buhari, claiming to despise corruption, but his wife, children and close aides have since been linked to numerous multibillion-dollar corruption scandals since he assumed office in 2015. 

The London property now linked to Seyi Tinubu was reportedly previously purchased as part of about $2 billion Mr Aluko stole in Nigerian funds, largely through shady oil deals. Mr Aluko, and Mrs Alison-Madueke, have severally been on the run since 2015 as some of their ill-gotten loot had been previously located by authorities in the United States and Europe. 

Seyi Tinubu did not immediately return a request seeking comments about the London property from Peoples Gazette. Aides to the president-elect also declined comments as well as Buhari’s spokespersons.

Recall that, Mr Tinubu was dogged by evidence of public corruption, drug dealing and money laundering before he was declared winner of Nigeria’s presidential election in February.

The drug charges were first brought against him by the FBI in the 1990s, and he was made to forfeit at least $460,000 to the United States in September 1993.

Mr Tinubu has continued to dismiss  the allegations, ascribing  it to works of his opposition parties. However, his main opponents in the last elections have compiled the charges as part of their petitions seeking to invalidate his victory, although a final ruling is not expected to come in until months after he had already been sworn in on May 29.