Nigeria’s president-elect’s son’s firm, Seyi Tinubu bought an $11 million London mansion that the prior government was seeking to confiscate in a corruption probe. No evidence links President-elect Bola Tinubu to the acquisition in 2017. The current president of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, visited Tinubu at the London mansion in August 2021, almost four years after the purchase of the property.
Tinubu’s family wealth has been questioned, especially during his election campaign. In response to the corruption allegation, he stated that he acquired his wealth through inherited real estate and invested wisely before entering politics. He also worked for Deloitte LLP as an accountant and for Mobil Oil’s Nigerian subsidiary in the 1980s and early 1990s. Stating his admiration for Warren Buffett’s wealth-building methods.
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An American news site, Bloomberg, has corporate documents revealing that the 37-year-old president-elect’s son, Oluwaseyi Tinubu, is the primary shareholder of Aranda Overseas Corp., which paid £9 million ($10.8 million). Deutsche Bank bought the north London property for £8 million in 2017. It’s a three-floor private residence in St. John’s Wood, popular among American bankers, and has an 8-car driveway, two gardens, electric gates, and a gym.
No response was received from Nigeria’s president-elect’s spokesman, Bola Tinubu, or Oluwaseyi Tinubu regarding the allegations when asked. Aranda’s agent in the UK, a British lawyer, declined to comment due to confidentiality rules. Nigeria sought to arrest the former owner, Kolawole Aluko, for owing $1.5 billion in oil-trading debt when the house was bought. The state is trying to seize real estate and assets believed to have been obtained by businessman Kolawole Aluko through illegal means.
Aluko denies any wrongdoing and claims his name is cleared after the court’s acquittal of his former partner. Sen. Bola Ahmad Tinubu will succeed President Muhammadu Buhari on May 29 after winning the election in February 2023 for the ruling All Progressives Congress. He played a vital role in the election campaign that got the current president into office in 2015. President Muhammadu Buhari vowed to fight corruption, but Nigeria’s rank in Transparency International’s index has worsened in the eight years he has been in office.
