Paul Ogwuma, former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and his wife have acquired property worth £33 million (N15.6 billion), a UK investigative journalism magazine has revealed.
According to the magazine, Private Eye, Ogwuma, who served as CBN governor for six years has “amassed a £33m British property empire”. In its report titled “Abuja on Thames” the paper said it “has identified a network of 15 British companies owned or controlled by Anna Ogwuma,” wife of the governor, adding that her husband “looted his country under 1990s military dictatorship”.
“Paul Ogwuma, 86, was governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria during the brutal and kleptocratic rule of General Sani Abacha, when the bank was the latter’s personal piggy-bank. Some estimates suggest looting under Abacha ran to billions of dollars,” the report read. “Under his successor for one year, retired general Abdulsalami Abubakar, Ogwuma oversaw a depletion in Nigeria’s foreign currency reserves of around $3bn, or 40%”.
“Between 2002 and 2017, her companies were used for 20 separate property purchases. They ranged from commercial sites in the north of England to luxury apartments in west London. “Among them are townhouses in Kensington and Paddington, a couple of apartments in Mayfair, and premises in Bishop’s Stortford town centre that currently house a branch of Greggs.”
CULLED FROM THE CABLE
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