I have come to the conclusion that the most effective way to dismantle Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s political empire and the network of politicians and businessmen surrounding him is to persuade the governments of the United States, Britain, Switzerland and the European Union to begin investigating their overseas bank accounts, freezing suspicious assets and seizing properties wherever there is sufficient evidence that they were acquired with the proceeds of corruption.
This is precisely what the Americans, British and Europeans have done to corrupt politicians and their associates from Angola, Nigeria and other countries. There is absolutely no reason why the same laws should not be applied to those currently holding Nigeria hostage.
I intend to work much harder towards this objective, because I am convinced that the only language these people understand is money.
Take away their access to their foreign bank accounts, investigate the sources of their wealth, expose their offshore companies and recover whatever assets are proven to have been purchased with stolen public funds, and much of the financial machinery sustaining their political influence will begin to crumble.
These men may believe they own Nigeria. They may control sections of the police, security services and political establishment. They may intimidate opposition politicians and use their supporters to threaten anyone who challenges them.
But they do not own the American Department of Justice, the British Serious Fraud Office, the National Crime Agency, the Swiss financial authorities or the courts of Europe.
And that is where the real battle against international corruption must be fought.
THE ABACHA BILLIONS: THE PRECEDENT WAS ESTABLISHED YEARS AGO
Let us begin with the late General Sani Abacha, whose regime demonstrated how easily a country’s wealth could be transferred into foreign bank accounts while its citizens suffered.
International investigations estimated that Abacha and his associates diverted billions of dollars from Nigeria.
The World Bank has cited estimates of approximately $4 billion in misappropriated funds.
Swiss investigations uncovered accounts associated with the Abacha network across numerous banks. British banking investigations also revealed serious weaknesses in the financial controls that should have prevented suspicious transactions.
The figures are staggering.
Switzerland returned more than $700 million in Abacha-linked funds to Nigeria through earlier recovery arrangements. Another $322.5 million was returned in 2017 under an arrangement involving international monitoring.
In 2020, approximately $311.8 million was repatriated through cooperation between the United States, Jersey and Nigeria.
We are talking about well over a billion dollars recovered through these separate proceedings alone.
That money did not fall out of the sky. It was traced through financial institutions, subjected to legal proceedings and eventually returned to Nigeria.
So why should the same international machinery not be used to examine the wealth of today’s political establishment?
Why should anyone imagine that becoming president, governor or minister gives him permanent immunity from international financial investigations?
The Abacha case should have taught every Nigerian politician one important lesson: stolen money does not necessarily remain yours simply because you have managed to move it abroad.
JAMES IBORI: A £101.5 MILLION WARNING TO NIGERIA’S POLITICAL CLASS
Consider the case of James Ibori, the former governor of Delta State.
Ibori was once one of Nigeria’s most powerful governors. He enjoyed enormous political influence, surrounded himself with loyal supporters and operated within a political system that appeared incapable of holding him accountable.
Yet it was in Britain that he eventually faced the consequences of his financial activities.
In 2012, Ibori pleaded guilty to money-laundering offences and received a 13-year prison sentence.
In 2023, a British court imposed a confiscation order of £101.5 million.
And on 3 November 2026, the London Court of Appeal rejected his attempt to reduce that order.
Think about that for a moment.
A former Nigerian governor, years after leaving office, remains subject to a British confiscation order exceeding one hundred million pounds.
This is exactly the kind of international accountability I want to see applied wherever credible evidence establishes that Nigerian public officials have accumulated illicit wealth.
Ibori’s case proves that political influence in Nigeria does not necessarily translate into immunity before the British courts.
And that is a lesson Tinubu, Wike and every other politician with questionable sources of wealth would do well to remember.
GILBERT CHAGOURY: HOW MANY WARNINGS DOES NIGERIA NEED?
Now let us examine Gilbert Chagoury, the Lebanese-Nigerian businessman whose relationship with successive Nigerian political administrations has long attracted controversy.
Chagoury is not some obscure businessman whose financial history has never been examined.
In 2000, Swiss judicial authorities found him guilty of money laundering and supporting a criminal organisation in connection with funds associated with the Abacha regime.
He was fined one million Swiss francs and agreed to return $66 million to Nigeria. The conviction was subsequently expunged under Swiss law.
But that was not the end of his encounters with foreign authorities.
In 2021, the United States Department of Justice announced that Chagoury had paid $1.8 million to resolve a federal investigation involving unlawful campaign contributions.
According to American authorities, approximately $180,000 had been channelled through intermediaries to political candidates between 2012 and 2016.
These are matters of public record, not allegations invented by me.
And yet today we have a Nigerian administration awarding enormous infrastructure contracts to companies associated with the Chagoury business empire.
Take the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway, a project originally presented as approximately 700 kilometres in length and involving expenditure running into trillions of naira.
Hitech Construction, associated with the Chagoury business group, was awarded a major role in the project.
The House of Representatives itself raised questions about the procurement process in 2024.
Why should the Nigerian people not demand complete transparency concerning the award of these contracts?
Why should the government not publish the full contractual terms, financing arrangements, beneficial ownership information and independent cost assessments?
And what about the reported business connections between members of the Tinubu family and Chagoury-linked interests?
I want these relationships examined thoroughly, including any potential conflicts of interest.
I am not prepared to accept that because a businessman has access to the president, Nigerians must simply remain silent while enormous public contracts are awarded.
Nigeria is not the private property of Bola Tinubu, Gilbert Chagoury or their associates.
The money being spent belongs to the Nigerian people.
BOLA TINUBU AND THE AMERICAN DRUG INVESTIGATION RECORDS
Then there is Bola Ahmed Tinubu himself.
For years, Nigerians have been arguing about his activities in Chicago during the 1990s and the circumstances surrounding the forfeiture of approximately $460,000 in American bank accounts connected to him.
The 1993 proceedings arose from allegations involving proceeds associated with narcotics trafficking. They resulted in a civil forfeiture settlement, not a criminal conviction of Tinubu.
That distinction does not remove the legitimate public interest in the underlying records.
Today, more than three decades later, Tinubu is involved in litigation concerning the disclosure of historical FBI and DEA investigative records.
On 30 October 2026, United States District Judge Beryl Howell issued an important decision requiring federal agencies to provide further justification for certain withheld records.
The case concerns documents relating to investigations conducted in Chicago in the early 1990s.
My question is straightforward:
- What exactly do these records contain?
- Why has their disclosure been contested so vigorously?
- What did American investigators discover, and what information remains hidden from the Nigerian public?
A man occupying the presidency of Africa’s most populous country should have no objection to the fullest disclosure permitted by American law of records concerning his past.
If those records clear him of the allegations that have followed him for decades, let the Nigerian people see that.
But if they contain information of legitimate public interest, the Nigerian people have a right to know.
I intend to follow these proceedings closely because I believe transparency is essential to political accountability.
NYESOM WIKE: LET US EXAMINE THE AMERICAN PROPERTY RECORDS
And then there is Nyesom Wike, the former governor of Rivers State and present Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.
Wike has become one of the most outspoken and politically influential figures in the Tinubu administration.
But political influence does not place anyone beyond financial scrutiny.
In September 2025, Peoples Gazette published an investigation concerning three properties in Winter Springs, Florida, reportedly associated with Wike’s family.
The reported purchase prices were $535,000, $459,157 and $465,000.
That is a combined figure of approximately $1.46 million.
The newspaper reported that the properties had been acquired through cash transactions and subsequently transferred to Wike’s children.
These allegations have not been established as criminal wrongdoing by a court. Nevertheless, they raise questions that deserve independent examination.
Where did the purchase funds originate?
Which financial institutions processed the transactions?
Were the properties properly declared under the applicable rules?
Were any public funds involved?
These are legitimate questions concerning a politically exposed person who has occupied two of the most powerful offices in Nigeria.
If the money was legitimately earned, the relevant financial documentation should be capable of establishing that fact.
But if investigators uncover evidence of corruption or money laundering, then the appropriate authorities should act.
Wike should understand that property transactions in the United States leave records that can be examined independently of Nigerian political influence.
ISABEL DOS SANTOS: THE ANGOLAN LESSON
One of the most instructive examples comes from Angola.
Isabel dos Santos, the daughter of the late Angolan president José Eduardo dos Santos, was once celebrated as Africa’s richest woman.
Her fortune was estimated in billions of dollars. She controlled substantial business interests and enjoyed extraordinary political connections.
For years, she appeared almost untouchable.
Then international investigations began examining how her wealth had been accumulated.
In November 2024, the British government imposed an asset freeze and travel ban on her under its anti-corruption sanctions regime.
British authorities alleged that she had improperly benefited from more than £50 million through Angola’s state oil company Sonangol and more than £300 million through the telecommunications company Unitel.
Separate civil proceedings in London involved a freezing order covering assets worth up to £580 million.
Dos Santos denies wrongdoing, and the sanctions and civil proceedings must not be confused with a criminal conviction.
Nevertheless, the significance of the case is unmistakable.
Here was a woman who had once enjoyed extraordinary wealth, political protection and international influence, suddenly facing serious financial restrictions and legal proceedings abroad.
Her father’s political position could no longer shield her from international scrutiny.
That is precisely the lesson Nigeria’s political establishment must understand.
No amount of political influence at home guarantees permanent protection from foreign courts and financial investigators.
THE DIEZANI CASE: EVEN SUPERYACHTS CAN BE RECOVERED
There is another Nigerian example that deserves attention.
In January 2025, the United States announced an agreement to return approximately $52.88 million in forfeited assets connected to corruption involving former petroleum minister Diezani Alison-Madueke.
American investigators described how proceeds associated with a bribery scheme had been used to acquire luxury assets, including the 65-metre Galactica Star superyacht and expensive real estate in California and New York.
The United States had pursued forfeiture proceedings against assets connected to the scheme.
The recovery agreement provided for much of the money to be used for electricity-access projects in Nigeria.
This is what international asset recovery can accomplish.
The American authorities did not need to control the Nigerian police or the Nigerian judiciary to investigate assets within their own jurisdiction.
They followed financial evidence and used their own legal system.
That is exactly why foreign financial investigations can be such an important instrument in combating corruption in Nigeria.
MY CAMPAIGN WILL NOW CONCENTRATE ON INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY
I have already taken my concerns about corruption involving members of Nigeria’s political establishment and their business associates to British authorities, including the Serious Fraud Office.
I have spent time discussing these matters and presenting documents supporting my concerns.
I intend to continue this work with renewed determination.
I am a political scientist, a businessman and a lawyer trained in Sweden. I have worked in international finance and understand that modern financial transactions leave documentary trails.
I also understand that accusations alone are not sufficient to secure a criminal conviction or confiscation order.
Evidence is what matters.
Property records, banking transactions, company registrations, beneficial ownership documents, contract payments and financial disclosures are the materials that investigators require.
That is where I intend to concentrate my efforts.
I want the relevant authorities in the United States, Britain, Switzerland and the European Union to examine credible evidence of possible corruption and money laundering involving Nigerian politically exposed persons.
I want suspicious overseas wealth investigated.
I want unexplained financial arrangements subjected to independent examination.
And wherever the evidence establishes that assets were purchased with stolen Nigerian public money, I want those assets frozen, confiscated and returned to their rightful owners: the Nigerian people.
THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY MUST STOP SHELTERING AFRICA’S STOLEN WEALTH
There is something profoundly offensive about watching Nigerian politicians and their associates enjoy expensive properties in London, Florida, Paris, Dubai and other international financial centres while millions of Nigerians struggle to survive.
Nigeria has children attending schools without proper classrooms.
We have hospitals without adequate equipment.
We have communities without reliable electricity or clean drinking water.
We have pensioners who struggle to survive and young graduates who cannot find employment.
Yet enormous sums have historically been diverted from public resources into private fortunes.
And too often those fortunes have found comfortable homes in foreign banking systems.
Western governments cannot continue preaching good governance to African countries while failing to confront suspicious wealth flowing through their own financial institutions.
If the money is legitimate, let its owners demonstrate its lawful origin when required.
If it is stolen, recover it.
And if public officials have abused their positions to enrich themselves, let them face the consequences.
The international financial system should not be a sanctuary for corrupt political elites.
THE DAY THE MONEY STOPS, THE EMPIRE BEGINS TO CRUMBLE
Bola Tinubu and the political figures surrounding him may believe that controlling the machinery of government gives them unlimited power.
They may believe that political intimidation, patronage and control of state institutions will protect them indefinitely.
But they should study the histories of Abacha, Ibori, Diezani and Isabel dos Santos.
They should understand that foreign financial investigations can continue long after political power has disappeared.
They should also understand that international investigators are not obliged to accept the explanations offered by political supporters.
A banking transaction is a banking transaction.
A property deed is a property deed.
A company registration is a company registration.
And money transferred across international borders can sometimes be traced decades after the original transaction.
I am not interested in replacing one corrupt political gang with another.
I want the system that enables the looting of Nigeria dismantled.
I want the proceeds of corruption recovered.
I want Nigerian politicians to understand that public office is a responsibility, not an opportunity to accumulate private fortunes at the expense of the people.
And I want those who believe they can hide behind political influence to understand that the world is much larger than Aso Rock.
You may control political machinery in Abuja, but you do not control the courts in London, the Department of Justice in Washington or the financial authorities in Switzerland.
The precedent has already been established.
The laws already exist.
The investigators have demonstrated what they can accomplish.
What is required now is credible evidence, political will and sustained international cooperation.
I intend to work harder towards achieving precisely that.
Follow the money. Investigate the accounts. Examine the properties. Trace the beneficial owners. Recover every asset proven to have been stolen from the Nigerian people.
Because Nigeria’s wealth belongs to its citizens, not to the politicians who temporarily occupy its offices.
And no political empire built or sustained by corruption should be allowed to escape the rule of law.
Kio Amachree is a Political Scientist and President, Worldview International.
