Former NSA Dasuki linked with US mansions allegedly bought with stolen money
Dasuki, who served as NSA from 2012 to 2015, was charged with diverting billions of naira meant to buy weapons for the fight against Boko Haram terrorists in the country at the time.
A fresh investigation has revealed how former national security adviser (NSA) Sambo Dasuki allegedly stolen millions of dollars were invested in American luxury real estate linked to him and his allies.
Dasuki, who served as NSA from 2012 to 2015, was charged with diverting billions of naira meant to buy weapons for the fight against Boko Haram terrorists in the country at the time.
The investigation published on Wednesday, 13 November by The Washington Post in collaboration with Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF), uncovered how millions of dollars budgeted for national security were allegedly stolen and invested in luxury real estate in Los Angeles, California, and in McLean, Virginia, a highbrow area in Washington, DC.
According to the report, PPLAAF said it received and analysed thousands of property documents, company registration materials, bank transaction records, and court documents both from Nigeria and the United States which all revealed that funds used in purchasing the luxury properties came from Dasuki’s close associates, Robert and Mimie Oshodin, the owner of a furniture company.
Robert Oshodin is a Nigerian furniture manufacturer based in the United States, with his wife, Mimie.
PPLAAF said the investigation showed that the family received at least $27 million from Dasuki’s office through their company that was invested in real estate.
“Our investigation uncovers that the ongoing struggle for accountability in Nigeria is worsened when countries like the US turn a blind eye to corruption,” said Jimmy Kande, PPLAAF’s West Africa Director.
“Something has really gone wrong when those entrusted with protecting their citizens instead siphon off money for personal gain. The US can and should do better, both morally and legally.”
Former President Muhammadu Buhari had in 2015, a few months after he assumed office, sacked Dasuki and subsequently ordered his arrest, following claims of cases of corruption allegedly involving the then NSA.
The government had alleged that Dasuki awarded fake contracts worth more than $2 billion, between 2012 and 2015, for fighter jets, helicopters, bombs, and ammunition that were never supplied to the Nigerian Air Force. This came to be commonly referred to as Dasukigate.
The charges against Dasuki followed an interim report by a committee investigating arms procurement for Nigeria’s military.
In 2018, Nigerian law enforcement informed US authorities about the allegations against Dasuki and the Oshodin family, urging the Department of Justice to trace the money. However, the Oshodin couple continued to buy and sell additional homes.
The former NSA was said to have had two children in the US who were under the care of Robert and Mimie Oshodin at the time.
The report further stated that the Oshodin couple spent approximately $24 million on real estate in the US as Dasuki kept making fund transfers to the family.
“The largest of these real estate transactions was for the purchase of a USD 9.5 million mansion in Los Angeles the very same day Dasuki’s office transferred USD 12 million into an account held in the name of the Oshodin couple’s furniture business in Nigeria,” PPLAAT said.
“According to court filings obtained by PPLAAF, the Oshodin couple stored tens of millions of dollars of jewelry in a mansion in Los Angeles, including a ring worth over USD 3 million, and millions in furnishing and antiquities,” it further stated.
The group expressed concerns that after Nigerian law enforcement informed US authorities about the allegations against Dasuki and the Oshodin couple, calling for a thorough investigation, the couple continued to engage in the real estate business.
The group said such disposition raised questions about the US’s effort to keep dirty money out of its property market.
“Equally concerning, the Nigerian government is still struggling to recover assets and prosecute cases linked to the Dasukigate scandal, with significant coordination issues and judicial delays. The Dasukigate scandal thus remains a critical test for Nigeria’s commitment to fighting corruption” the group further stated.
PPLAAT said it shared insights from the materials and its findings with The Washington Post in the US and Premium Times in Nigeria.
Some of the documents that investigators found indicated that the office of the NSA had some time in 2014 made a single transfer of $12 million to Mr and Mrs Oshidin’s account for the “provision of counter-radicalisation campaign.”
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had indicted the couple on 25 counts of money laundering.
While Mimie Oshodin was arrested for the materials, Mr Robert was nowhere to be found. Mimie, who pleaded not guilty to the charges, was granted bail in the sum of N250 million.
The trials had since stalled.
