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Nigerian authorities have seized extensive assets held by a former education ministry official and his close family members who are on trial in two separate corruption cases. But real estate records show the family still controls two properties in the U.S. that have not been seized.
Prosecutors allege that Dibu Ojerinde, 78, diverted at least $13.7 million from the education ministry’s National Examination Council, as well as the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board. He held positions in those bodies for almost two decades.
Included in the 2019 lost assets seized from Ojerinde and his family are a petrol station, schools, hotels, upscale properties in the nation’s capital Abuja, and shares in various companies.
However, property records obtained by Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF), Premium Times and OCCRP show two additional properties in Florida. The houses — valued at around $1.2 million combined — were not listed among the assets Nigerian authorities are seeking to confiscate in the case.
Ojerinde is facing an 18 count-charge of alleged diversion of public funds, abuse of office, and fraud-related offences, according to a 2021 indictment.
A separate 2023 indictment includes three of his children and his daughter-in-law, as well as six companies as defendants.
Trials for both cases are ongoing.
Ojerinde’s sons, Adedayo, Olumide and Oluwaseun, are charged with criminal conspiracy to deal with or conceal property that was the subject of a corruption offence.
Ojerinde’s daughter-in-law, Mary Funmilola Ojerinde, is facing two charges of concealing or managing property obtained through corrupt practices. Prosecutors allege she has taken control of corporate management and bank accounts that Ojerinde had owned and operated with false names.
Ojerinde did not respond to detailed questions submitted to his lawyer. His sons and his daughter-in-law did not reply to multiple requests for comment sent to email addresses listed as contacts in company filing in Nigeria.
Two of Ojerinde’s sons, as well as his daughter-in-law, purchased the U.S. properties that didn’t make it onto the list of assets to be seized.
Nigeria's Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) alleges that Ojerinde owned and managed companies and bank accounts using false identities. He allegedly used these identities to conceal his illicit financial activities while he was heading the two education bodies.
According to the 2023 indictment obtained by the reporters, Ojerinde allegedly “took measures to conceal his ownership and active participation in the management of some of these companies and assets acquired for his corrupt benefit, by using forged documents, stolen identities and synthetic names.”
The ICPC also alleges that Ojerinde transferred “administration and management of the two companies, as well as their bank accounts” to his daughter-in-law, Mary after Nigeria introduced an anti–money laundering measure requiring a unique biometric identifier for all bank account holders.
Less than a month later, in April 2015, Mary and her husband, Olumide, purchased their first property for $380,000 in Miramar, Florida.
A second property was purchased in June 2017 in Miami by Olumide and another son, Oluwaseun, for $300,000.
The investments have since proven profitable, as the value of the two homes increased considerably since the purchases.
In 2019, Ojerinde’s sons and daughter-in-law made moves to transfer ownership of the two properties into trusts, which are legal arrangements that are commonly used to shield the ultimate beneficiaries from public disclosure.
The Miramar house was transferred to an entity called Lenciaga Land Trust, while the Miami property was meant to be placed under the control of Venchy Land Trust.
However, the transfer of the Miami house did not succeed. Property registry documents obtained through a Freedom of Information request show that Miami-Dade County said it was unable to complete the title transfer, because the identity of the trustee responsible for managing the trust had not been specified.
Public records show no further filings for four years. Then, in April 2023, almost a month after the sons and daughter-in-law were indicted, their U.S. agent asked the county for assistance in correcting the filing.
However, according to public records, the Miami property still officially remains in the names of the two sons.
