The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) has begun investigating seven prominent Nigerians named in the Panama Papers and Pandora Papers over alleged undeclared offshore assets and business interests.
Those under investigation include the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate and former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi; former Senate Presidents Bukola Saraki and David Mark; and former Minister of Aviation Stella Oduah.
Others are the late former Bayelsa State governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha; former Delta State governor, James Ibori; and a retired President of the Delta State Customary Court of Appeal, Stella Ogene.
Sources at the bureau confirmed the development to Premium Times, which was part of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ global investigations.
According to a CCB source, investigators have been assigned to the seven cases, while others named in the reports will also be looked into.
“All the Nigerian officials named in the Panama and Pandora papers will be investigated. But seven of them have been assigned to case officers who have already commenced investigations,” the source said.
Although the bureau has no official spokesperson, an aide to its chairman also confirmed that the investigations were ongoing.
In October 2021, the CCB wrote to Premium Times, describing the Pandora Papers as an investigation that had “created ripples across the globe” and requesting the newspaper’s cooperation in investigating and possibly prosecuting those implicated.
The newspaper’s Editor-in-Chief, Musikilu Mojeed, replied on October 18, 2021, pledging support.
“The primary motivation for our work is to help the public obtain the information they need to ask questions and make informed decisions and for law enforcement agencies to have the leads they require for necessary actions,” he said.
With no update years later, the newspaper wrote to the bureau again on July 29, 2026, seeking the status of its inquiries.
“Several years after that engagement, however, there has been little or no public indication that investigations have been initiated or concluded regarding a number of public officials named in the Pandora Papers,” Mojeed wrote.
The CCB responded in September that it was reviewing the materials in line with its mandate and might invite a representative of the newspaper for clarification, but declined to give details to avoid prejudicing the process.
The 2021 Pandora Papers report found that Obi remained a director of a British firm, NEXT International (UK) Limited, for 14 months after he became governor, contrary to Section 6 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act.
It also alleged that he failed to declare certain offshore holdings and operated a foreign bank account while in office.
Obi did not deny the findings, but said he was unaware he had to declare jointly owned assets. He has also maintained that he never diverted public funds, though the report did not accuse him of doing so.
Oduah’s £6.7 Million London Properties
The investigation also reported that Oduah acquired four London properties worth £6.7m between October 2012 and August 2013 through a Seychelles-registered company, International Trading and Logistics Company Limited, of which she was identified as the ultimate beneficial owner.
The properties were reportedly bought without mortgages, while three other London properties were also linked to her.
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A leaked Deutsche Bank suspicious activity report showed that a Nigerian firm linked to her transferred $71,973 to a London property agency about a month before one of the purchases.
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Oduah was aviation minister from 2011 to 2014 and later represented Anambra North in the Senate.
Retired Judge, Reps Member
Documents also showed that Ogene set up Assete Media Limited in Seychelles in 2009 to acquire a London property, and was listed as a director of a Nigerian private company for 10 years while heading the Customary Court of Appeal.
The Pandora Papers further linked a member of the House of Representatives, Nicholas Mutu, to a Seychelles firm, Forest Group of Company, which bought a north London property for £620,000 in 2012 and sold it for £730,000 in 2014.
Mutu denied being a director, saying the company belonged to his wife, but UK Land Registry records and the leaked documents listed him as director, shareholder and beneficial owner.
Saraki, Mark In Panama Papers
The Panama Papers, published in 2016 from documents leaked from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, linked more than 140 Nigerian individuals and companies to offshore entities.
Premium Times reported that the Saraki family held at least four assets through offshore structures that were not declared to the CCB.
They included Sandon Development Limited, a Seychelles company linked to his wife, Toyin, which was used to buy a property in Belgravia, London, in 2012.
The documents also showed that Saraki later took control of Landfield International Developments Limited, a British Virgin Islands company, through a Jersey-registered firm, after a board meeting in January 2015 approved its sale to him for over £3m.
Mark was linked to at least eight British Virgin Islands companies while in office, and was repeatedly flagged by Mossack Fonseca as a politically exposed person.
The nature of the businesses run through the firms could not be established.
Alamieyeseigha’s Offshore Web
The Panama Papers also revealed that Alamieyeseigha, who governed Bayelsa from 1999 until his impeachment in 2005, became first director and secretary of Solomon & Peters Limited, incorporated in the British Virgin Islands months after he took office.
The company was linked to property purchases and financial transactions in several countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States and South Africa.
British authorities returned over £5 million of recovered assets to the Bayelsa State Government in 2012.
His 1999 and 2003 asset declarations to the CCB did not reflect the scale of the overseas assets uncovered.
Owning offshore companies is not illegal in itself, as they can be set up for legitimate purposes.
However, Nigeria’s Code of Conduct for Public Officers requires public officials to declare their assets and those of their spouses and children under 18, bars them from running private businesses except in specified cases, and prohibits them from operating foreign bank accounts.
Officials found culpable after the CCB’s investigations can be prosecuted at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
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Other Nigerians named in the Panama Papers include Aliko Dangote and his brother, Sayyu Dantata; Oando CEO, Wale Tinubu; the late televangelist, T.B. Joshua; former Defence Minister, Theophilus Danjuma; Globacom chairman, Mike Adenuga; and the late Ooni of Ife, Okunade Sijuwade, among others.
