Seyi Tinubu, the son of President-elect Bola Tinubu, bought a $10.8 million London mansion previously owned by Kola Aluko, an ally of former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, Bloomberg reports.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) seized the property from Aluko in 2016.
Bloomberg reported, citing previously unreported UK company documents, that Seyi Tinubu bought the property in late 2017 through Aranda Overseas Corp., an offshore company in which he is the main shareholder.
Seyi Tinubu, 37, was said to have paid £9 million ($10.8 million) to Deutsche Bank for the property in north London.
“The private three-floor residence in St. John’s Wood — a district favored by American bankers — is equipped with an eight-car driveway, two gardens, electric gates and a gym,” the report stated.
The report maintained that there is no suggestion that Tinubu “was personally involved” in the acquisition of the property, although he stayed in the property during a medical trip to London.
While staying at the 7,000-square foot London home in August 2021, Tinubu received a visit from President Muhammadu Buhari there, according to a Premium Times report.
“A former governor of Lagos state, Tinubu has long been dogged by allegations of graft and rule-breaking, which he denies.
“In 1993, he forfeited $460,000 to resolve a lawsuit in Chicago after US federal authorities said that bank accounts in his name held the proceeds of heroin trafficking. Tinubu’s lawyers have said he was never charged over the matter,” the report further stated.
“Early in Buhari’s first term, his administration initiated legal cases against Diezani Alison-Madueke, who served as oil minister for five years until 2015, and two businessmen — Aluko and Olajide Omokore — who won lucrative contracts during her tenure,” the report reads in part.
“The US government said in a 2017 forfeiture lawsuit filed in Texas that the pair bribed the minister by funding her “lavish” lifestyle and failed to pay the state energy company for most of the crude they received.
“In June 2016, a federal judge in the capital, Abuja, granted a request by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to seize more than a dozen properties that Aluko had acquired in Nigeria and abroad, including the one in St. John’s Wood. That forfeiture order was still in force when Tinubu’s son bought the house out of receivership 16 months later,” the report also stated.
Bloomberg said Buhari’s spokesperson and Alison-Madueke’s lawyer declined comments for its report.
“Bola Tinubu’s spokesman and Oluwaseyi Tinubu did not respond to emails, phone calls and text messages seeking comment. A British lawyer listed as Aranda’s agent in the UK declined to comment citing confidentiality rules,” Bloomberg said.
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