334 prominent Nigerians linked to 800 properties in Dubai, UAE
The chairman of the forum of governors elected on the platform of Nigeria’s ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Bagudu, and a senator representing Enugu west senatorial district, Ike Ekweremadu, are among serving political office holders named to be part of 334 prominent Nigerians who are linked to 800 properties scattered around the city of Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
This was revealed by a new report on illicit financial flows which put the value of the properties at N164 billion.
The report, which was published on Thursday by an American-based non-governmental organisation, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, is a product of an investigative research conducted by one of its nonresident scholars, Matthew Page.
According to the report, the prominent public figures otherwise described as politically-exposed persons (PEP), who were found to own these properties, cut across Nigeria’s major ethnic, religious and political divides.
The report noted that about 20 former and serving governors, seven former and serving senators, current and former heads of ministries, departments and agencies of government, commissioners and those described as ‘money changers,’ that is, bureau de change operators, own a significant number of the properties.
Some of the other identified individuals linked to the properties include the former PDP chairman, Ahmadu Ali; former Kwara State governor, Mohammed Lawal; former petroleum minister, Dan Etete; another former deputy senate president, Ibrahim Mantu; former managing director of the acquired Oceanic Bank, Mrs. Cecilia Ibru.
Others are the former inspector general of police, Tafa Balogun; former chairman of military pension board, Bala Mshelia; former group managing director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Ladan Shehu, and a former head of the petroleum product marketing company, Samuel Okeke, among others.
About the report
The report, which is titled; “Dubai Properties” An Oasis for Nigeria’s Corrupt Political Elites”, according to its author is based largely on private data compiled by UAE-based real estate and property professionals.
Dubbed “Sandcastles data,” the UAE-based real estate professionals had in 2016, made the data available to the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (now known as C4ADS) as confidential sources. But as credible as the data is, the Centre added a caveat that they do not constitute property deed, which it noted is a form of official documentation strictly controlled in the UAE as confidential information.
