Leaked Documents Show Seyi Tinubu Co-Owned Company With Chagoury; Linked Firms Win Major Projects

Leaked corporate records have revealed that Oluwaseyi “Seyi” Tinubu, son of Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu, once co-owned an offshore company with Ronald Chagoury Jr., son of billionaire businessman Ronald Chagoury. The company was incorporated about eight years ago in the British Virgin Islands, a jurisdiction known for corporate secrecy. 

The revelation firms linked to the Chagoury business empire have been awarded large government contracts without open competitive bidding. One of the most notable is Hitech Construction Company Ltd., a Chagoury Group subsidiary that was given the contract to build the 700-kilometer Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway — a project valued at around $13 billion — which has sparked controversy over transparency and procurement rules. 

Beyond the coastal highway, another firm in the wider Chagoury network, ITB Nigeria, was awarded a $700 million contract to renovate Nigeria’s major maritime gateways — Tin Can and Apapa ports in Lagos. That agreement was announced with financing backed by Citibank Nigeria and UK Export Finance and is expected to begin work on modernizing port facilities. 

In addition, Chagoury-related companies are involved in other major infrastructure and urban development projects. One example is Eko Atlantic City, a large-scale urban development on reclaimed land along the Lagos coastline, designed to become a new commercial and residential hub. While these projects are not directly tied to the offshore firm Seyi Tinubu once co-owned, they show the breadth of work being carried out by companies associated with the Chagoury Group. 

Seyi Tinubu has also been identified as a director on the board of CDK Integrated Industries, which operates under the Chagoury Group umbrella and is involved in manufacturing products such as ceramic tiles and sanitary ware. 

Critics argue that the combination of historic personal business links and the recent high-value contract awards raises questions about influence, fairness, and conflict of interest, especially given that major projects like the coastal highway and port upgrades were not advertised through open tenders. Government officials, however, have stated that processes followed legal frameworks and that some matters are currently subject to legal review