By A new investigation has traced 284 properties worth nearly $271 million in the United States to 61 current and former high-level Nigerian officials, their families, associates and affiliated companies.
The properties are linked to officials including former National Security Adviser Sambo Dasuki, former pension reform boss Abdulrasheed Maina, former Abia State Governor and senator Orji Kalu, former Enugu State Governor Chimaroke Nnamani, late Oyo State Governor Ajibola Ajimobi, former Aviation Minister Stella Oduah, former JAMB Registrar Dibu Ojerinde, late former Chief of Defence Staff Alex Badeh, former Interior Minister Abdulrahman Dambazau, former Anambra State Governor Chris Ngige, former Anambra State Governor Willie Obiano and former NNPC Group Chief Operating Officer Ronald Ewubare, among others.
The findings are contained in a report by the Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF), in partnership with the Anti-Corruption Data Collective (ACDC), titled “Nigeria: Dirty Deeds — How Top Nigerian Officials Bought a Piece of America.”
The report, presented in Abuja on Tuesday, examined US property acquisitions dating back to 1991 and focused on how assets connected to Nigerian politically exposed persons were acquired and held.
According to the investigation, 152 of the 284 properties, valued at about $177 million, were purchased while the officials were in office.
The investigators also found that 230 properties, representing about 81 per cent of the total, worth approximately $232 million, were purchased without apparent financing in the records examined.
Another 147 properties, valued at about $111 million, were acquired by officials or their spouses in their own names or through legal entities registered in their names, while 104 properties worth about $140 million were purchased through companies.
The investigation identified 39 of the 61 individuals as people who had previously been publicly accused, indicted or sentenced for corruption.
However, the report does not by itself establish that every property identified was purchased with proceeds of corruption. PPLAAF said the assets require further scrutiny by relevant authorities and could become subject to recovery proceedings where a link to illicit proceeds is established.
The investigation further found that 232 properties worth approximately $238 million were linked to politically exposed persons identified in the report.
Of these, 195 properties valued at about $208 million were acquired without apparent financing during or after the officials’ tenure, while 94 properties worth approximately $135 million were acquired without an apparent source of financing while the officials were still in office.
The report said 79 properties valued at about $73 million remain connected to 27 individuals who have been publicly accused of corruption.
It identified the security, executive and legislative categories as accounting for properties worth about $222 million, representing 82 per cent of the total value examined.
The investigators said some purchases involved companies and intermediaries that could make the beneficial owners harder to identify. In 12 cases, officials were linked to US-incorporated entities that appeared affiliated with their Nigerian companies.
PPLAAF said its investigation used US property records, corporate registries, Nigerian government records and publicly available information. Each property was independently assessed, with investigators requiring at least two corroborating links, such as dates of birth, addresses or matching signatures, before attributing a property to an individual.
The properties were valued using 2025 appraisal values rather than their original purchase prices.
PPLAAF Executive Director Jimmy Kande said the transactions documented in the report should be investigated by Nigerian and US authorities, particularly where there are questions about the source of funds.
The organisation called for cooperation between both countries to investigate the properties, prevent the dissipation of assets where legally justified and recover and repatriate properties proven to have been acquired with stolen public funds.
The report also highlighted the case of Maina, who was previously investigated in connection with pension fund diversion. It said he acquired four properties in the US and Dubai worth more than $1.3 million between 2010 and 2013, including three Kentucky homes purchased with cash.
Maina was convicted in Nigeria in 2021 over the laundering of N2 billion in pension funds and was released in February 2025 after receiving statutory remission for good conduct. The report said Nigerian courts subsequently ordered the forfeiture of 23 properties linked to him in Nigeria, while the US properties and Dubai apartment remained connected to members of his family.
The investigators said the 284 properties identified should be viewed as part of a wider trail requiring further examination, rather than as evidence that every asset was illegally acquired.
