A NEW investigation has found that former National Security Adviser Sambo Dasuki, former Senate Majority Leader and serving senator Orji Uzor Kalu, former Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke, and former JAMB Registrar Dibu Ojerinde are among 61 politically exposed persons (PEPs) linked to 284 properties worth $271 million in the United States.
The report, which identified 152 properties worth about $177 million acquired while the officials were in office, also linked the children of former president Olusegun Obasanjo to properties worth at least $9 million in the US.
One of the properties identified by the Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF) in the US was reportedly purchased by Obasanjo’s son and daughter-in-law in 1999, the year the former military leader was elected president.
PPLAAF said it found 10 other properties bought over 26 years that could be sufficiently corroborated and linked to members of the ex-president’s immediate family through multiple independent sources.
According to the investigators, the properties were acquired from 1991 onwards, covering the final years of military rule and Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999.
“While no properties seem to be directly owned by the former president himself, a considerable number appear to have been acquired by members of his immediate family, particularly his son, Olumuyiwa (Olu) George Obasanjo and his two children: Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello and Olugbenga Obasanjo. In total, these properties are worth around USD 9 million.
“One luxurious property has been identified as belonging to Iyabo Obasanjo. She purchased it after serving as senator of Ogun, a position during which she was publicly accused of participating in embezzlement of public funds. Despite the accusation and the subsequent EFCC investigation, the case was finally dismissed, according to journalistic sources. The anti-corruption body did not respond to PPLAAF’s questions,” a part of the report stated.
However, PPLAAF stressed that ownership of property in the US may not, by itself, establish corruption or prove that a particular property was purchased with stolen public funds.
“This report is not a verdict. It is evidence placed in the public domain,” PPLAAF Executive Director, Jimmy Kande, said at the launch of the report in Abuja on Tuesday, September 22.
“Our responsibility as investigators is not to replace courts or law-enforcement authorities. Our responsibility is to document, corroborate, identify red flags, connect information across jurisdictions and ask the questions that public accountability requires,” he added.
Meanwhile, the investigation also uncovered an extensive corporate footprint traced to the Obasanjo family. In the US, companies such as Obasanjo and Slater, Emerald Logistics & Transport Services, KidzBloom LLC, Birch Hill Capital Group LLC, Pinnacle Property Holdings LLC, and several recently incorporated real estate holding companies were linked to Olu Obasanjo or other family members.
Titled “Dirty Deeds: How Top Nigerian Officials Bought a Piece of America,” the investigation was conducted by PPLAAF in partnership with the Anti-Corruption Data Collective (ACDC). It examined property records and other documents to trace US real estate connected to Nigerian officials, their relatives, associates and companies linked to them.
39 officials previously accused of corruption
According to the report, out of the 61 PEPs examined, 39 have been publicly accused, indicted or convicted in corruption-related cases and linked to 232 of the 284 properties, valued at approximately $238 million.
It added that 27 of these individuals who have been publicly accused remain connected to 79 identified properties worth $73 million.
The allegations, it said, came from Nigerian authorities, civil society organisations, the media and other investigative or parliamentary processes.
Other findings revealed that 195 properties worth about $208 million were purchased without apparent financing during or after the officials’ tenures.
According to Kande, the properties could provide leads for Nigerian and US authorities pursuing asset-tracing and recovery proceedings, where the legal requirements are met.
“The report notes that, where the legal requirements for forfeiture or asset recovery are established, cooperation between Nigerian and US authorities could provide a pathway for tracing, freezing, seizing or recovering assets,” he said.
Security sector accounts for largest property value
The investigators, Sonia Rolley, PPLAAF’s Director of Investigation, and Kabir Yusuf of Premium Times, who presented the findings, divided the 61 PEPs into six categories based on their areas of public service.
The security sector accounted for the largest combined property value, with 12 PEPs linked to 82 properties worth $93 million.
Dasuki, Nigeria’s former NSA and Alex Badeh, who served as Chief of Air Staff from 2012 to 2014, are the prominent figures identified in this category.
The national executive followed, with 11 PEPs linked to 15 properties valued at $75 million.
Others mentioned in this category were Obasanjo’s family, former Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke, and former Chief of Army Staff Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau.
The national legislature accounted for 10 PEPs linked to 84 properties worth $53 million, while 14 PEPs connected to state governments were linked to 54 properties worth $32 million.
Three officials associated with state-owned enterprises, namely Abiola Ajimobi, Gabriel Torwua Suswam and Chris Ngige, were linked to 15 properties worth $14 million, while two officials connected to independent statutory agencies were linked to six properties valued at about $3 million.
Properties bought in officials’ names
The investigation found that some of the properties were acquired directly in the names of officials or their spouses rather than through complex ownership structures.
According to the report, 147 properties worth approximately $111 million were acquired by officials and their spouses in their own names or through legal entities connected to them.
Dasuki’s property trail
One of the most prominent cases highlighted by the investigation concerns former NSA Sambo Dasuki.
According to PPLAAF, Dasuki purchased a 127-acre horse farm in South Carolina for nearly $1 million in cash in 2002, before transferring it to his wife.
PPLAAF and Premium Times had previously investigated Dasuki’s US property dealings in collaboration with international media organisations.
The new investigation further examined property transactions involving Dasuki’s family members and associates.
At the launch, Kabir Yusuf alleged that shortly after Dasuki was appointed National Security Adviser in 2012, money was transferred to his family members and associates in the United States.
He said one of the early transfers, worth N32 million, was described as a “consultation fee”, and alleged that further transfers running into billions of naira followed during Dasuki’s tenure.
According to the investigator, some recipients subsequently purchased properties in the US.
Kalu, Diezani, Ojerinde among prominent names
The report also identifies prominent former public officials including Orji Uzor Kalu, Diezani Alison-Madueke and Dibu Ojerinde among those whose property interests were examined.
Kalu, a former Abia State governor and serving senator, was previously a subject of corruption investigations and prosecutions in Nigeria.
Diezani, a former petroleum minister, has faced corruption allegations and legal proceedings in Nigeria and the United Kingdom over alleged financial crimes.
Ojerinde, a former registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), has also faced prosecution in Nigeria over allegations involving billions of naira.
The report stressed that the cases show how property ownership can be linked to politically exposed persons through direct ownership, relatives, associates and corporate entities.
Meanwhile, Rolley said the 61 PEPs and 284 properties identified in the report should not be regarded as an exhaustive list.
She added that the team had a limited time to examine large databases of US property records and said additional properties and individuals could be identified through further research.
Mustapha Usman is an investigative journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: musman@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M