Ribadu says Tinubu’s Lebanese friend Gilbert Chagoury owns Nigeria
NnnewsmediaMay 7, 2026Read original
Nuhu Ribadu the chairman of EFCC had once said that you could not investigate corruption without looking at President Bola Tinubu friend, Gilbert Chagoury who is a Billionaire who owns Nigeria.
Gilbert Chagoury is a Lebanese Nigerian billionaire born in Lagos in 1946 built a giant business empire with his brother Ronald.
They started the Chagoury Group in 1971. It grew into construction real estate flour mills hotels and huge infrastructure deals. The group employs thousands of people and handles projects worth billions of dollars. Chagoury holds Nigerian citizenship and became one of the richest men in the country.
He got very close to military dictator Sani Abacha who ruled Nigeria from 1993 to 1998. Chagoury acted as a top adviser and gatekeeper. Billions of public money vanished from the central bank into secret foreign accounts. He helped move the stolen cash set up overseas deals and handled huge transfers linked directly to the Abacha family.
After Abacha died suddenly in 1998 Chagoury moved fast to protect himself. He returned about three hundred million dollars from Swiss accounts. This gave him full immunity from all Nigerian charges connected to the Abacha years.
In 2000 a Swiss court convicted him of money laundering and helping a criminal group. He paid a one million Swiss franc fine worth around six hundred thousand dollars and returned sixty six million dollars to Nigeria. The conviction was wiped clean after two years.
Nuhu Ribadu took over the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in 2003. It was Nigeria’s first real anti corruption agency. Ribadu went after powerful people hard including governors senators and bank chiefs. He said clearly that you could not fight corruption without going after Gilbert Chagoury who sat at the center of the Abacha looting machine.
Ribadu knew the old immunity blocked direct Abacha cases. He targeted small business rule breaks instead to get an arrest warrant. The plan was to bring Chagoury onto Nigerian soil arrest him and then build the full corruption case.
In July 2004 EFCC officers waited at a remote airfield in the far northeast of Nigeria. Chagoury’s private jet landed. Wheels touched the runway. Engines slowed down. Then a radio tip off came through. Someone had warned the pilot. The engines roared back to life. The jet sped up took off climbed fast and flew away. Chagoury never stepped on Nigerian ground. The trap failed.
Ribadu lost his job in 2007 when political protection vanished. In 2008 gunmen shot at his car in an ambush. He survived the attack but fled Nigeria to stay alive. The hunter became the hunted.
Chagoury kept growing stronger through every government change. He beat the Swiss courts. He dodged Nigeria’s toughest investigator. He paid what it took to clear his name and stay powerful in the country he wanted to serve as a minister.
Today Chagoury sits at the heart of power. His companies hold massive new contracts without open bidding. Hi Tech Construction got the 700 kilometer Lagos Calabar Coastal Highway worth fifteen trillion naira. ITB Construction won port rehab jobs at Apapa and Tin Can worth over one trillion naira each. The group also runs the Snake Island port terminal for 45 years and leads the giant Eko Atlantic city project on land given during Tinubu’s time as Lagos governor. Reports show Tinubu’s son Seyi shares offshore company links with Chagoury relatives and has sat on related boards.
In January 2026 on his 80th birthday President Bola Tinubu gave Chagoury the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger. It is Nigeria’s second highest national honor. The citation praised his outstanding service to the nation.
Nuhu Ribadu now serves as President Tinubu’s National Security Adviser in the same government that honored the man he once chased so hard.