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London Houses Worth £15 million Linked With Saraki Listed For Probe

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Transparency International UK has listed two London houses suspected to be owned by Nigeria’s Senate President, Bukola Saraki for investigation under Britain’s new law, Unexplained Wealth Orders, which became effective from 31 January.

According to TI, Land Registry documents show that the houses at 7 and 8 Whittaker Street, Belgravia, London are owned by Landfield International Developments Limited and Renocon Property Development Limited.

Based on current market estimates by Zoopla, the properties are worth a combined total of around £15 million.

According to data released as part of the Panama Papers, these companies were controlled by Toyin Saraki, the wife of the President of the Nigerian Senate, Bukola Saraki as well as one of his personal aides. At the time of these revelations, none of these offshore holdings were reported in Saraki’s official asset declarations.

Previous public disclosures by Saraki have indicated he has high levels of unexplained wealth, Transparency International said.

In 2003, his asset declaration showed he had amassed tens of millions of pounds worth of assets during his time as director of Société Générale Bank and Special Assistant to the President on Budget.

The explanation he provided for these acquisitions was stated simply as “business”. Saraki is involved in an ongoing court case around allegations of false asset declarations from his tenure as Governor of Kwara state.

In a previous interview with The Guardian, Saraki said he had declared all his assets correctly and in accordance with Nigerian legislation.

Other assets listed for probe by Transparency International include a £18m property at Kenwood Gate, Hampstead, owned by the First Family of Azerbaijan, Flats 138A and 138B at 4 Whitehall Court, London, linked with Igor Shuvalov, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister. The flats are valued at £11.4million.

There are also a £1m property in Guildford linked with Ahmed Mahmoud Azwai, former Libyan Major General and two apartments at Park Lane, said to be owned by former Pakistani prime minister, Nawaz Sharif.

Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWOs) are a new investigative power designed to help law enforcement act on corrupt assets.

The Orders, Transparency said, are particularly useful where there is no realistic prospect of cooperation or conviction in the country of origin, but there are sufficient grounds for suspicion that an asset has been acquired with the proceeds of corruption.

After an application from an enforcement authority[1], a high court judge can give notice of a UWO only if she is satisfied that the respondent is likely to be the owner of suspicious wealth beyond his means, and if all of the following tests are met:

* The respondent is a Politically Exposed Person[2] (PEP) outside of the EEA; or there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the respondent is or has been involved in serious crime

*The respondent’s known income is insufficient to obtain the asset

*The value of the asset is greater than £50,000

The UWO requires the respondent to explain how he lawfully acquired his assets. If he fails to respond or gives an inadequate response then this extra information can be used in a separate civil recovery process (an existing measure under the Proceeds of Crime Act) if law enforcement has gathered sufficient evidence.

The U.K. estimates that around £90 billion ($127 billion, 102 billion euros) of illegal funds are laundered through Britain every year and this includes money stolen from the Nigerian treasury.

Now officials will use the new unexplained wealth orders (UWOs), which came into effect this week, to seize suspicious assets and hold them until they have been properly accounted for, Ben Wallace, Security and Economic Crime Minister told The Times newspaper on Saturday.

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Update : Road Crash: Anthony Joshua Hospitalised, Two Confirmed Dead — Ogun Police Spokesperson

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Former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua has been hospitalised after a road accident in the Makun area of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Ogun State.

Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Babaseyi Oluseyi, confirmed this in a statement.

The incident occurred shortly after 11 am on Monday.

Our reporter, who was at the scene, said the crash happened just before the Danco Filling Station in Makun, ahead of the Sagamu Interchange on the Ibadan-bound axis.

Adeniyi Orojo stated that the Lexus Jeep carrying Joshua, with number plate KRD 850 HN, collided with a stationary truck.

The eyewitness revealed that Joshua sustained minor injuries, while two others died at the scene.

“It was a two-vehicle convoy: a Lexus SUV and a Pajero SUV. Joshua was seated behind the driver, with another person beside him. A passenger sat beside the driver, making four occupants in the Lexus that crashed.
His security detail followed in the vehicle behind.

“Other eyewitnesses and I began the rescue and flagged down oncoming vehicles for help. Minutes after the crash, Federal Road Safety Corps officials arrived. The passenger beside the driver and the person beside Joshua died on the spot,” he said.

In a statement sent to Newsthumb on Monday, Oluseyi confirmed that Joshua and other injured persons were involved in a car accident and rushed to an undisclosed hospital.

He said, “The Ogun State Police Command confirms a road accident today in front of Sinoma, before Danco, along the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway. Anthony Joshua and other injured persons have been rushed to the hospital.

“Further updates will be communicated.”

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Tinubu Leaves Nigeria for Europe, UAE to Attend ADSW 2026 Summit, Says Onanuga

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President Bola Ahmed Tinubu departed Lagos on Sunday, December 28, for Europe, continuing his end-of-year break and ahead of his official trip to Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates.

His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed AlNahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, has invited President Tinubu to participate in the 2026 edition of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW 2026) Summit, which will take place in the emirate early in January.

The weeklong summit is an annual event that mobilises leaders from government, business, and society to chart the next era of sustainable development.

With the theme “The Nexus of Next: All Systems Go”, ADSW will connect ambition with action across innovation, finance, and people, showcasing how the world can move forward with confidence.’

The President will return to the country after the Summit.

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BREAKING: Fayose Alleges N45.5bn from N50bn Ibadan Explosion Fund Diverted by Makinde for Political Ambitions

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Former Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, has released what he described as documentary evidence to support his claim that Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, received N50 billion from the Federal Government as a special intervention fund following the January 2024 explosion in Ibadan.

Fayose made the documents public on Sunday in a statement accompanied by a memo from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.

He said the disclosure followed a challenge by Makinde to substantiate his earlier claim that the Oyo State Government received the funds.

“Two days ago, I stated on national television that Oyo State under Governor Seyi Makinde received N50bn from the Federal Government as intervention for the Ibadan explosion. Yesterday, the governor asked me to provide evidence, and here is the evidence he requested,” Fayose said.

The former governor further alleged that only N4.5 billion was disbursed to victims of the explosion, accusing Makinde of diverting the remaining funds for personal political ambitions.

“Only N4.5bn was paid to victims of the Ibadan explosion. The rest, alongside other intervention funds, was diverted to fund his presidential ambition. This, in part, explains the crisis in the PDP and his frequent attacks on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his administration,” he alleged.

Fayose further said he was compelled to release official documents, despite his reluctance to do so, in the interest of transparency and public accountability.

“Even though it is not in my character to go public with official government documents, I had to do this so Nigerians will know who is saying the truth and who has not been sincere with the people of Oyo State,” he said.

The former governor said that Makinde’s alleged disclosure of detail from private meeting with President Tinubu made fuller public disclosure necessary.

He challenged the governor to take legal action if he believed the allegations were false, insisting that he had sufficient proof to defend his claims.

“I challenge Governor Seyi Makinde to sue me on this. There are also proofs of other intervention funds received from Tinubu’s administration by the Oyo State Government which the governor refused to disclose to the people,” he said.

He further claimed to have documentary evidence of Oyo State’s actual Internally Generated Revenue, contrary to figures publicly stated by Makinde, noting that he would release the details at a later time.

“There are documentary evidences on the actual Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of Oyo State, as against Governor Makinde’s claim, but we will keep our gunpowder dry for now.

“My name is still Ayo Fayose. I don’t say what I can’t prove,” he said.

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