Article highlights:
- Seyi Tinubu, son of Nigeria’s incoming president, purchased an $11 million London mansion through an offshore shell company, Aranda Overseas Corporation.
- The luxurious property, located in Westminster borough, features a main house with five bedrooms, a two-bedroom apartment, and various amenities such as a gym and pool.
- The purchase has attracted attention due to its suspected connection to fraud proceeds by Kola Aluko, a Nigerian billionaire wanted for fraud.
It has been reported that Seyi Tinubu, the son of Nigeria’s incoming president, Bola Tinubu, has spent almost $11 million on a home in London.
The purchase was facilitated by Deutsche Bank, and Tinubu’s 37-year-old son established an offshore shell company, Aranda Overseas Corporation, to make it official, according to corporate documents reviewed by Bloomberg for the first time. Supposedly, the property can be found in a posh area of North London.
Younger Tinubu paid £10 million ($10.8 million) to Deutsche Bank for the property, which is located on a plot of land measuring 7,000 square feet, as shown in the provided paperwork. Because of its suspected connection to fraud proceeds by one Kola Aluko, the Nigerian government had been looking into the home with an eye towards confiscation.
Documents from the Pandora Papers leak of offshore companies’ data showed that the former Governor of Osun State, Adegboyega Oyetola, who is also a relative of the President-elect, sat on the board until 2010. The business publication described Seyi Tinubu as the major stakeholder in Aranda.
Details about the house that you need to know
The address is 32 Grove End Road, in London’s affluent Westminster borough, according to the ongoing global Pandora Papers reporting project led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), in which Premium Times plays a significant role.
The larger of the two buildings on the estate has five bedrooms, the report says, as well as a formal parlour, study, master bedroom with en suite bathroom, dressing room, and balcony overlooking the back garden. The brochure advertising the property was released by a well-known real estate firm in the United Kingdom. The remaining two of the home’s four bedrooms both feature private baths.
Overlooking the two-car garage is the second building on the property, a two-bedroom apartment with its own entrance. The home features a fitness centre, two full bathrooms for guests, an automatic gate, a carriage driveway large enough for eight cars, front and back landscaping, and a pool.
Location of Seyi Tinubu’s $11 million London house
The visit of Buhari
According to a report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and Premium Times (PT), on August 12, 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari paid a visit to Nigeria’s President-elect, Tinubu, at his London home.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State, and members of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila of the House of Representatives, and a delegation from Kano State led by Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso
Aluko’connection
Bloomberg claims that Nigerian billionaire Kola Aluko, who is wanted for $1.6 billion in fraud, lived at the home in London.
Diezani Alison-Madueke, the former minister of petroleum, was sued by Kola Aluko and Olajide Omokore during President Muhammadu Buhari’s first time in office. The claims claim that Alison-Madueke awarded lucrative contracts to Omokore and Aluko.
In order to avoid paying the Nigerian government for the majority of the crude oil they secured, the US government claims that both men bribed Alison-Madueke. Since then, all three of them have refuted the claims.
In June of 2016, a federal judge authorised the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to take a number of Aluko’s properties in Nigeria and elsewhere.
A large, freestanding residence with over 7,000 square feet of horizontal space spread across three levels
Set behind security gates and a large carriage driveway, the low-slung mansion provides parking for up to eight vehicles.
There is a huge two-car garage, garden space in both the front and back, and living quarters for workers off to the side.
There’s a foyer, a formal living room, a study, a dining room, a family room, a master bedroom suite with an attached dressing room and bathroom, and a movie room with a balcony that looks out over the backyard.
In addition to the main house’s master suite and two additional bedrooms with en suite bathrooms, the building also features a staff/catering kitchen, a gym, two guest cloakrooms, a carriage driveway with parking for up to eight double-length garage spaces, front and rear gardens, air conditioning, and secure electric gates.
The incoming leader of Nigeria
The results of the presidential election held on Saturday, February 25, 2023, were announced, and Tinubu was pronounced the victor by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Tinubu’s victory is being challenged at the presidential election tribunal by two other candidates, Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP).
They said that irregularities in the way INEC handled the election proved their point.
During election campaigns, Tinubu was accused of handing over $460,000 to the U.S. to resolve a lawsuit in Chicago involving money allegedly obtained from narcotics trafficking and stashed in his bank accounts.