The son of Nigeria’s President-elect, Seyi Tinubu has been fingered in an 11 million dollars London Mansion scandal which he is alleged to have acquired in 2017.
The report by Bloomberg Africa says that a firm belonging to Seyi Tinubu, Aranda Overseas Corp. bought the London mansion valued at 11 million dollars; a property the Buhari administration was seeking to confiscate as part of a probe into corruption scandals in the Goodluck Jonathan administration.
The London Mansion formerly owned by Kolawole Aluko, an associate of Dieziani Madueke, a former Nigerian Minister of Petroleum was to be confiscated alongside other assets suspected to have been acquired by the businessman through proceeds of crime.
At the time of the purchase, Nigeria’s government was seeking to arrest Aluko, accusing him of going on the run while owing the country an oil-trading debt worth more than 1.5 billion dollars; allegations that he has since denied with the backing of a court judgment earlier this year acquitting a former business partner linked to him
According to Bloomberg, there’s no suggestion that Nigeria’s President-elect, Bola Tinubu was personally involved in the acquisition of the UK property in 2017 but he appears to be the occupant of the mansion since President Muhammadu Buhari is reported to have visited him there in August 2021, nearly four years after the purchase took place.
There has been a web of allegations surrounding the President-elect’s source of wealth especially in the build up to the 2023 general elections but his campaign team has always maintained that the former Lagos State Governor made his fortune before going into politics via personal investments
Bloomberg reports that from available corporate documents, Seyi Tinubu is the main shareholder of Aranda Overseas Corp., an offshore company that paid 10.8 million dollars to Deutsche Bank for the property in north London in late 2017.
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.
An online newspaper, Premium Times Nigeria, using documents obtained from the Pandora Papers leak of offshore companies data revealed that the shareholders and directors of Aranda from its formation 24 years ago until at least 2010 were Adegboyega Oyetola, the former governor of Osun state, and Elusanmi Eludoyin, head of a Nigerian property group.
Meanwhile, documents filed this year in response to new anti-money laundering rules in the UK confirmed Seyi Tinubu as being in control of the British Virgin Islands-registered Aranda Overseas Corp since June 2011.
According to the UK land records, Aranda still owns the building and there is currently no mortgage registered to it
