You mean Peter pandora obituary??

CoronaVirusPro:


Comedy!

Mods should please move to jokes section.

Peter Okoye of Psquae has more chances than this dude.

Those deceiving him are not doing him any good. They just want to turn him to Atiku of 2015.

So who should we vote ??

PANDORA PAPERS: INSIDE PETER OBI’S SECRET BUSINESSES — AND HOW HE BROKE THE LAW
Peter Obi, the ex-governor of Anambra State in South-eastern Nigeria, is widely regarded in Nigeria as an advocate of good governance, openness, and transparency.
In addition to speeches on his governance records and statistics-laden prescriptions for Nigeria’s development, he likes to talk about how hugely successful he became in business before diving into politics.
In speeches and in printed literature, Mr Obi is never shy, reeling out his numerous business affiliations and accomplishments. On his website, for example, the former governor said he “was chairman of Next International Nigeria Ltd, then chairman and director of Guardian Express Mortgage Bank Ltd, Guardian Express Bank Plc, Future View Securities Ltd, Paymaster Nigeria Ltd, Chams Nigeria Ltd, Data Corp Ltd and Card Centre Ltd.”
On that same platform, the former governor also described himself as the youngest board chairperson ever appointed by Fidelity Bank Plc, a 34-year-old Nigerian lender listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
But beyond the facade of priggish speeches and appearances, an investigation by PREMIUM TIMES has now shown that Mr Obi is not entirely transparent in his affairs as he likes Nigerians to believe.
The investigation is part of the global International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)-led Pandora Papers project.
The project saw 600 journalists from 150 news organisations around the world poring through a trove of 11.9 million confidential files, contextualising information, tracking down sources and analysing public records and other documents.
The leaked files were retrieved from some offshore services firms around the world that set up shell companies and other offshore entities for clients, many of them influential politicians, businesspersons and criminals, seeking to conceal their financial dealings.
The two-year collaboration has so far revealed the financial secrets of not less than 35 current and former world leaders, more than 330 public officials in more than 91 countries and territories.
Mr Obi is one of the individuals whose hidden business activities was thrown open by the project. Indeed, he has a number of secret business dealings and relationships that he has for years kept to his chest. These are businesses he clandestinely set up and operated overseas, including in notorious tax and secrecy havens in ways that breached Nigerian laws.
PREMIUM TIMES contacted Mr Obi with written questions and had an in-person interview with him weeks ahead of this publication.
The former governor admitted that he did not declare these companies and the funds and properties they hold in his asset declaration filings with the Code of Conduct Bureau, the Nigerian government agency that deals with the issues of corruption, conflict of interest, and abuse of office by public servants.
He said he was unaware that the law expected him to declare assets or companies he jointly owns with his family members or anyone else.
The Pandora Papers, the biggest cross-border collaboration of journalists in history, is an investigation into a vast amount of previously hidden offshore companies, exposing secret assets, covert deals and hidden fortunes of the super-rich – among them more than 130 billionaires – and the powerful, including more 30 world leaders and hundreds of former and serving public officials across the world.
The confidential documents also feature a global cast of fugitives, convicts, celebrities, football stars and others, including judges, tax officials, spy chiefs and mayors.
The leaked records came from 14 offshore services firms from around the world that set up shell companies and other offshore nooks for clients like Mr Obi, who seek to shroud their financial activities, often suspicious, in secrecy.
PETER OBI, HIS DAUGHTER AND A SECRET BUSINESS
Mr Obi has two children- a daughter, Gabriella Nwamaka Frances Obi, and a son, Gregory Peter Oseloka Obi. Sometime in 2010, more than four years after he became governor, the politician developed an appetite to set up his first discreet company in the British Virgin Island. He named the company Gabriella Investments Limited, after his daughter
To set up what has now become a convoluted business structure, Mr Obi first approached Acces International, a secrecy enabler in Monaco, France, to help him incorporate an offshore entity in one of the world’s most notorious tax havens noted for providing conduits for wealthy and privileged corrupt political elites to hide stolen cash to avoid the attention of tax authorities.
Tax havens are politically and economically stable offshore jurisdictions or countries with extensive laws and systems that provide little or no tax obligations, but enable high secrecy and privacy protection for foreign individuals and businesses.
Mr Obi also paid Acces International to provide nominee directors for the company. Nominee directors are residents of tax havens paid to sit on boards of companies to hide the identities of real owners of offshore firms.
So, after accepting a brief from the then governor or his representatives, Acces International officials headed to the British Virgin Island, a notorious tax haven, where it contracted a local registered agent – Aleman Cordero Galindo & Lee Trust (BVI) Limited (Alcogal) — to set up Gabriella Investments Limited for Mr Obi.
The 36-year-old Alcogal is a Panamanian law firm that went on to open overseas subsidiaries offering company formation and registered agent services in BVI, Seychelles, Belize, and Bahamas, and the preparation of corporate documentation in relation to the companies formed. It also provides trust services through its subsidiary trust companies in Panama, BVI, and Belize.
After extensive documentation, Gabriella Investment Limited was born on November 17, 2010, with registration number 1615538. Two figureheads – Antony Janse Van Vuuren and Lance Lawson — were appointed its first directors while ultimate control resided with Mr Obi.
On the same day the company was incorporated, the nominee directors met and issued 50,000 shares of Gabriella Investment in favour of Hill International Holding Corporation, a shell International Business Company operating under the laws of Belize, another tax haven. The director of the company is Mr Van Vuuren, also one of the directors of Gabriella Investment.
It is unclear what businesses Mr Obi transacted with the entities but in some communications, they were sometimes referred to as investment vehicles. Mr Obi told PREMIUM TIMES the offshore entity is the holding company for most of his assets and that the business structure he adapted was to enable him to avoid excessive taxation.
“I am sure you too will not like to pay inheritance tax if you can avoid it,” he told the reporters who interviewed him.
The Memorandum of Incorporation of Gabriella Investment said it was set up to carry on or undertake any business or activity, including trading of any commodities or goods, to do any act or enter into any transactions.
RECALIBRATING THE STRUCTURE AND BRINGING FAMILY UNDER THE UMBRELLA
Mr Obi has since rearranged his offshore businesses. First, he renamed Gabriella Investment. Beginning February 10, 2017, the company became known as PMGG Investments Limited in what is a combination of the first letters of the first names of Mr Obi’s nuclear family. P for Peter (ex-governor), M for Margaret (the ex-governor’s wife), G for Gabriella (the ex-governor’s daughter) and G for Gregory (the ex-governor’s son).
Mr Obi has also now created a trust known as The Gabriella Settlement; an entity also registered in the BVI. According to Fidelity Investments, a trust is a fiduciary arrangement that allows a third party, or trustee, to hold assets on behalf of a beneficiary or beneficiaries. Experts believe that trusts are traditionally used for minimising taxes even though they can offer other estate plan benefits as well.
By the current structuring of Mr Obi’s wealth and offshore businesses, The Gabriella Settlement, which appears to hold all or a majority of his assets, is the sole shareholder of PMGG Investments.
In turn, a New Zealander entity, Granite Trust Company Limited is the sole trustee of The Gabriella Settlement. Sam Access International, the Monaco-based secrecy enabler Mr Obi first hired in 2010 to set up his offshore structure, was until August 23, 2019, the sole shareholder of Granite Trust.
Antony Janse Van Vuuren, who has acted as a consistent and perpetual director for almost all of Mr Obi-related offshore entities popped up again, making the filing that brought in another Monaco-based company, Rhone Acces Sam as the sole shareholder of Granite Trust. However, Rhone Trust and Fiduciary S.A., a Swiss entity, is the ultimate holding company for Granite Trust.
MR PETER OBI AND HIS MAN FRIDAY
A central and recurring figure in former Governor Obi’s network of offshore companies and on whom the politician appears to place immense trust is Antony Janse Van Vuuren, a 70-year-old South African based in the principality of Monaco in France. Experts in Illicit Financial Flows consider Monaco a tax haven because of its generous tax laws and policies.
According to KPMG Multi Family Office, the principality of roughly 30,000 inhabitants does not charge wealth tax, property tax, investment income tax, and capital gains tax. It also does not tax dividends and directors’ fees and unless they are French nationals, resident individuals are not subject to personal income tax while inheritance tax is zero per cent for spouses and direct beneficiaries. It is unclear if it was this mouth-watering tax regime that attracted Mr Obi to Monaco.
What is however clear is that, in 2010, four years after he became governor, the politician or his representatives hired Monaco-based Acces International, where Mr Van Vuuren has been partner and director for 25 years, to help him create a secret and intricate scheme for managing his assets. Mr Obi told PREMIUM TIMES that British Lloyds Bank’s advice informed his offshore structure decision.
From Monaco in France to Tortola in the BVI, to Wellington in New Zealand, and to Geneva in Switzerland, Mr Van Vuuren has travelled around the world running business errands for Mr Obi and taking major decisions on his behalf.
While Mr Obi stays comfortably behind the curtain, the South African has remained the face of the ex-governor’s companies and the assets they hold. For the past decade, he is the politician’s number one business arranger in the offshore world as well as the custodian of the politician’s business-related documents and correspondences.
Mr Van Vuuren, a veteran nominee director for possibly tens or hundreds of shell companies, attended the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where he graduated in 1967 with a Bachelor of Commerce, Accounting and Business Management. He also obtained an MBA from Durham University in 1977.
A HISTORY OF PLAYING OFFSHORE
A 1991 leaked incorporation document reveals a certain Peter Obi and two other individuals – Donatus Ogbogu and Uche Okagbue – to have incorporated Beauchamp Investments Limited in Barbados.
The firm was incorporated as an international business company on August 20, 1991, with registration number 7305. The setting up of the company was handled at the time by a certain Peter L. Chase. What businesses the company does and what assets it holds remain unclear. Mr Obi denied knowledge of the firm as well as of Messrs Ogbogu and Okagbue. He said the individual who incorporated Beauchamp was possibly another businessman who happened to bear a similar name as him.
However, Next International (UK) Limited, another of the former governor’s overseas companies, was incorporated on May 16, 1996, in London. Mr Obi and his wife, Margaret, were listed as directors while Next International (Nigeria) Limited (with 999 ordinary shares) and Mr Obi (with one ordinary share) were listed as shareholders.
The exact businesses the company undertook in its 25-year history remained unclear, although, on March 8, 2001, the firm reported taking a mortgage from Lloyds TSB Bank Plc for a property on 53 Clyde Road, Croydon.
BREAKING THE LAW: NUMBER 1
In Nigeria, a person is statutorily obligated to withdraw from engaging in or directing a private business, except if it is farming, upon becoming a public officer, Section Six (6) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act stipulates.
However, our investigation, based on records obtained from the UK Companies House shows that Mr Obi continued to be a director of Next International (UK) Limited for 14 months after becoming the governor of Anambra State, thereby breaking Nigeria’s law. The politician resigned from the company on May 16, 2008, 14 months after he assumed duties as Anambra governor. He took office on March 17, 2006.
Mr Obi did not dispute the records PREMIUM TIMES cited but he claimed he “resigned immediately” by handing his wife his resignation letter. He suggested that his company might have failed to effect the changes on time or the UK Companies House did not immediately document his exit. But the UK companies registry said Mr Obi indeed resigned on May 16, 2008, and that it received his notice of resignation for electronic filing on June 16, 2008.
BREAKING THE LAW: NUMBER 2
Nigerian public officers are required to declare “immediately after taking office and thereafter all” their properties, assets, and liabilities and those of his (or her) unmarried children under the age of eighteen years,” Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution stipulates (Section 11, Part of the Fifth Schedule).
PREMIUM TIMES investigation also found that Mr Obi breached this constitutional provision on assets declaration. We can authoritatively report that Mr Obi did not declare to the Code of Conduct Bureau the companies he tucked away in offshore secrecy havens.
Mr Obi caused to be created for him a structure of secrecy that had previously, until the Pandora Papers investigation, meant he could continue to hold foreign assets in a way that breaches Nigeria’s law without the knowledge of authorities in the country. In an extra layer of secrecy, Mr Obi used paid nominees as directors, while he remains the ultimate beneficial owner, making it nearly impossible to discover his interests in those companies but we obtained rare incorporation documents proving his link.
Otherwise, Mr Obi could have forever hoped to continue to hold the assets, that he did not declare when he had a statutory obligation to do so as a governor, without any authority or the public calling him to account.
In his response, Mr Obi ridiculously suggested that those offshore companies and assets are jointly owned with his family members and that he was not under obligation to declare companies jointly owned. “I don’t declare what is owned with others,” Mr Obi told PREMIUM TIMES. “If my family owns something I won’t declare it. I didn’t declare anything I jointly owed with anyone.”
This is contrary to the position of the Constitution, which specifies the declaration of all assets, whether jointly or partly owned, PREMIUM TIMES’ reporters told Mr Obi. He said he was not aware of that provision of the law.
Nevertheless, leaked records show Mr Obi is the sole ultimate beneficial owner of the offshore companies. So, he did not even jointly own it with anyone.
In that case, Mr Obi has violated Nigeria’s Code of Conduct law and, if authorities decide to act appropriately, he could be arraigned before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, a special court that tries public officers for any contravention of the Code of Conduct for Nigerian public officers as spelt out in the Fifth Schedule of the Nigerian constitution.
The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) were established to enforce “a high standard of morality in the conduct of government business, and to ensure that the actions and behaviour of public officers conform to the highest standards of public morality and accountability.”
BREAKING THE LAW: NUMBER 3
The former governor could be charged with failing to declare his offshore holdings and their associated assets and operating foreign accounts while being a public officer.
The Nigerian constitution and the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act forbid a public officer from maintaining or operating a bank account outside Nigeria. However, as a governor, Mr. Obi continued to operate and maintain foreign accounts, including with Lloyds TSB.
Mr. Obi told PREMIUM TIMES that he received the advice to create an offshore structure from Lloyds TSB, which then introduced him to intermediaries who helped him to set up com where he continued to operate a foreign account as a governor.
The offences violate sections of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended.
Asked if he is concerned that Nigerians would be disappointed at him following our finding of his opaque and lawless dealings as a governor, Mr Obi said he was more concerned about his U.K. and U.S. schools’ alumni network, his business and foreign creditors. He insisted that he served well as Anambra governor and Nigerians already have their opinions about him.
The former governor could be charged for failing to declare the company and its associated assets and perhaps operating foreign accounts while being a public officer.
Mr Obi told PREMIUM TIMES that he received the advice to create an offshore structure from Lloyds where he continued to operate a foreign account as a governor.
The offences violate sections of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended.
MR OBI AND MISSED TAX OPPORTUNITY
In June 2017, the federal government launched the Voluntary Assets and Income Disclosure Scheme (VAIDS), an initiative seeking voluntary disclosure of previously undeclared assets and income with a view to paying all outstanding liabilities. The VAIDS offered a nine-month window and incentives that included immunity from prosecution for tax evasion and undeclared assets, which would have benefited people like Mr Obi.
A key objective of the VAIDS was curbing illicit financial flows and tax evasion, which commonly feature the use of offshore holdings to shift taxes from where they are earned to havens where little or no taxes are paid.
The government in 2017 said defaulting individuals and corporate bodies who failed to take advantage of the VAIDS would be subject to criminal prosecution.
A number of Nigerian public officials with previously undeclared assets tucked away overseas participated in the VAIDS and got clearance certificates. Mr. Obi shunned the scheme and continued with his opaque business dealings in breach of the law.

Realists:


Hmmm, PDP, papa deceive pikin party has already launch the looting speere.
A party has embezzled their HQ fund's

association of professional conmen aka ndi bullion van are the worst set of calamity on africa.

Klington:
The only credible technocratic candidate at moment.

Others are just desperate mediocres whose only aim is to come loot what's left

DONT BE SURPRISED JOE BIDEN AND BORIS JOHNSON WILL SUPPORT TINUBU OR ANY OTHER slowpoke JUST TO MAKE SURE NIGERIA IS KEPT POOR AT ALL MEANS

Jestin:
The man that will give Nigeria a new vision

AND YOU THINK NIGERIA IS SERIOUS ABOUT GETTING BETTER?

USA AND UK ARE LAUGHING AT US.
THEY PREFER ILLITERATES TO LEAD NIGERIA

sapele914:
Pdp is controlled by The Northerners, Atiku & Co, no way on God’s given earth they will give their ticket to an Igbo person.

Least we forget that Mr stealing of public funds is not corruption aka JEGA (Jonathan Ebele Goodluck Azikiwe) adopted by the South East as their son, was the last President from Pdp.

If they dont give it to a federal south easterner, then its their loss.

Peter Obi is currently like how Obasanjo came into play in 1998. He has fewer enemies at the federal level.

Atiku lost the north in the last election. Most of the votes came from the south east and it was because of Peter.

My only fear is IPOB soiling the man’s chances with unnecessary violence pre and post election.

Osinbajo’s chances are dependent on the delegates collecting Yahaya Bello and Tinubu’s potential credit alerts and still voting for him. If delegates are loyal, his chances might be lower.

Wike cannot be the president. His actions of intimidating and arresting a gubernatorial candidate alone has sealed his fate. Nobody wants a brute at the federal level who would attack them at will. Even if he bullies his way to win the primaries, can he bully his way into every ward?

I like the Biafran spirit of dreaming.
The people just like to deceive themselves and dream all the time.
Who will vote for a Biafran man, please tell me.

Vote him if you want progress

Jsucre:
Obi vs Osinbajo I pray.

The two losers

Well done Peter Obi

IKBARUTEN11:

Me and my family will vote for Peter Obi





Shikena

I and my family, boss.

hopexter:


I get confused sometimes by you lot, if Peter Obi is contesting to be the President of Nigeria and the igbos are all willing to support him and see him as the only one who can fix Nigeria( the Zoo), then which section of igbos want to leave Nigeria and form Biafra? what happens to Biafra agitation? I’m not understanding, you are fighting for referendum and contesting to be the President of the country you’re fighting for Referendum

Yeebos are the most confused liars in the world. They keep speaking from both sides of the mouth.

1) Their brand of politics is ridiculous if not downright hilarious. They want to blackmail and threaten Nigerians into handing over power to them.

2) They hate Nigeria and want Biafra but also want to rule Nigeria. No be juju be that?

3) They hate quoter system but want Nigerians to zone presidency to SE

4) They want us to vote in one of the most currupt and bigoted politician in Nigeria's history as president. This man is known as Kleptomania Peter Obi-tuary.

4) How are they going to convince northerners to vote in a bigoted kleptomania Peter Obi-tuary who was deporting northerners out of Anambra

ikpumbe:
Only people who want NIGERIA to be great again will root and vote for this man

Peter obi is a goal

Spacopendragin:
1st stage done..
Next stage loading.
If you mean well for our country,I don't see why you won't support this humble man...

Eriokanmi:
I wish they could just consider this man

Mrkumareze:
The best candidate but I know Nigerians are blind, mostly the zones with voting power. They ll go for another 8 years of suffering

4) How are you going to convince northerners to vote in a bigoted kleptomania Peter Obi-tuary who was deporting northerners out of Anambra

maestroferddi:
You are an empty noise-maker.

You are not a member of the PDP...neither do you know Jack about politics.

There is a growing suspicion that Buhari will likely plump for a dark horse to fly the flag of APC.

Peter was in the ballot in the last election so what exactly makes him a newbie in the political landscape?

Your petty tribalism and the pecuniary inducements you receive from unscrupulous politicians have blinded your eyes and hardened your conscience from objectivity.

First you guys were saying that Peter Obi would not enter the presidential race....

Dude did enter and is now kicking asses and your straw man:s assertion now is that he won't emerge as the flagbearer...

But like play like play, Peter Obi is making it hard for PDP to go for any other candidate without
facing the backlash of Nigerians

Seems you really serious?

I thought you were joking before.

Obi will win the PDP primaries you stated?

Have you smoked marijuana at any point in life?

haslaw:



Yeebos are the most confused liars in the world. They keep speaking from both sides of the mouth.

1) Their brand of politics is ridiculous if not downright hilarious. They want to blackmail and threaten Nigerians into handing over power to them.

2) They hate Nigeria and want Biafra but also want to rule Nigeria. No be juju be that?

3) They hate quoter system but want Nigerians to zone presidency to SE

4) They want us to vote in one of the most currupt and bigoted politician in Nigeria's history as president. This man is known as Kleptomania Peter Obi-tuary.

4) How are they going to convince northerners to vote in a bigoted kleptomania Peter Obi-tuary who was deporting northerners out of Anambra

Nothing more to add, you said it all.

They will begin with their Biafra agitation once Obi loses the PDP primary.

Just watch the movie, Droves are very predictable.

Congratulations Sir, we need you. Peter Obi 2023

xclusiveguy4:
What's wike own, Abi dem Don disqualify baba ni

U mean the GooD Loser?

Igbos trying hard to package this pandora

[s]

TheNiceGuy:
Yes, insha'Allah.

Bola Tinubu bikuwwatillah

[/s]

[s]

Mooh247:
Hope he bought APGA Presidential ticket as well

[/s]

haslaw:









4) How are you going to convince northerners to vote in a bigoted kleptomania Peter Obi-tuary who was deporting northerners out of Anambra

Leave that for us.

When the time comes, God will take charge of it

But we are promising you guys that we will match propaganda with propaganda,abuse to abuse, insult to insult, reason with reason

We will fight dirty in this election.


Forget it.
It was our gentlemanism that caused us this pain.

[s]

Transcriber:
run for presido na

[/s]

haslaw:



Yeebos are the most confused liars in the world. They keep speaking from both sides of the mouth.

1) Their brand of politics is ridiculous if not downright hilarious. They want to blackmail and threaten Nigerians into handing over power to them.

2) They hate Nigeria and want Biafra but also want to rule Nigeria. No be juju be that?

3) They hate quoter system but want Nigerians to zone presidency to SE

4) They want us to vote in one of the most currupt and bigoted politician in Nigeria's history as president. This man is known as Kleptomania Peter Obi-tuary.

4) How are they going to convince northerners to vote in a bigoted kleptomania Peter Obi-tuary who was deporting northerners out of Anambra

You go wail tire bro.

You have stopped saying igbos don't love themselves,
Now it is igbos and biafra.

Cry me a river

CoronaVirusPro:



Seems you really serious?

I thought you were joking before.

Obi will win the PDP primaries you stated?

Have you smoked marijuana at any point in life?

This one is jumping from one Peter obi news to another.


God is the giver of power. Not northener


Ee go shock una

Klington:
The only credible technocratic candidate at moment.

Others are just desperate mediocres whose only aim is to come loot what's left

Amaechi is eminently qualified to lead Nigeria

essentialone:
PANDORA PAPERS: INSIDE PETER OBI’S SECRET BUSINESSES — AND HOW HE BROKE THE LAW
Peter Obi, the ex-governor of Anambra State in South-eastern Nigeria, is widely regarded in Nigeria as an advocate of good governance, openness, and transparency.
In addition to speeches on his governance records and statistics-laden prescriptions for Nigeria’s development, he likes to talk about how hugely successful he became in business before diving into politics.
In speeches and in printed literature, Mr Obi is never shy, reeling out his numerous business affiliations and accomplishments. On his website, for example, the former governor said he “was chairman of Next International Nigeria Ltd, then chairman and director of Guardian Express Mortgage Bank Ltd, Guardian Express Bank Plc, Future View Securities Ltd, Paymaster Nigeria Ltd, Chams Nigeria Ltd, Data Corp Ltd and Card Centre Ltd.”
On that same platform, the former governor also described himself as the youngest board chairperson ever appointed by Fidelity Bank Plc, a 34-year-old Nigerian lender listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
But beyond the facade of priggish speeches and appearances, an investigation by PREMIUM TIMES has now shown that Mr Obi is not entirely transparent in his affairs as he likes Nigerians to believe.
The investigation is part of the global International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)-led Pandora Papers project.
The project saw 600 journalists from 150 news organisations around the world poring through a trove of 11.9 million confidential files, contextualising information, tracking down sources and analysing public records and other documents.
The leaked files were retrieved from some offshore services firms around the world that set up shell companies and other offshore entities for clients, many of them influential politicians, businesspersons and criminals, seeking to conceal their financial dealings.
The two-year collaboration has so far revealed the financial secrets of not less than 35 current and former world leaders, more than 330 public officials in more than 91 countries and territories.
Mr Obi is one of the individuals whose hidden business activities was thrown open by the project. Indeed, he has a number of secret business dealings and relationships that he has for years kept to his chest. These are businesses he clandestinely set up and operated overseas, including in notorious tax and secrecy havens in ways that breached Nigerian laws.
PREMIUM TIMES contacted Mr Obi with written questions and had an in-person interview with him weeks ahead of this publication.
The former governor admitted that he did not declare these companies and the funds and properties they hold in his asset declaration filings with the Code of Conduct Bureau, the Nigerian government agency that deals with the issues of corruption, conflict of interest, and abuse of office by public servants.
He said he was unaware that the law expected him to declare assets or companies he jointly owns with his family members or anyone else.
The Pandora Papers, the biggest cross-border collaboration of journalists in history, is an investigation into a vast amount of previously hidden offshore companies, exposing secret assets, covert deals and hidden fortunes of the super-rich – among them more than 130 billionaires – and the powerful, including more 30 world leaders and hundreds of former and serving public officials across the world.
The confidential documents also feature a global cast of fugitives, convicts, celebrities, football stars and others, including judges, tax officials, spy chiefs and mayors.
The leaked records came from 14 offshore services firms from around the world that set up shell companies and other offshore nooks for clients like Mr Obi, who seek to shroud their financial activities, often suspicious, in secrecy.
PETER OBI, HIS DAUGHTER AND A SECRET BUSINESS
Mr Obi has two children- a daughter, Gabriella Nwamaka Frances Obi, and a son, Gregory Peter Oseloka Obi. Sometime in 2010, more than four years after he became governor, the politician developed an appetite to set up his first discreet company in the British Virgin Island. He named the company Gabriella Investments Limited, after his daughter
To set up what has now become a convoluted business structure, Mr Obi first approached Acces International, a secrecy enabler in Monaco, France, to help him incorporate an offshore entity in one of the world’s most notorious tax havens noted for providing conduits for wealthy and privileged corrupt political elites to hide stolen cash to avoid the attention of tax authorities.
Tax havens are politically and economically stable offshore jurisdictions or countries with extensive laws and systems that provide little or no tax obligations, but enable high secrecy and privacy protection for foreign individuals and businesses.
Mr Obi also paid Acces International to provide nominee directors for the company. Nominee directors are residents of tax havens paid to sit on boards of companies to hide the identities of real owners of offshore firms.
So, after accepting a brief from the then governor or his representatives, Acces International officials headed to the British Virgin Island, a notorious tax haven, where it contracted a local registered agent – Aleman Cordero Galindo & Lee Trust (BVI) Limited (Alcogal) — to set up Gabriella Investments Limited for Mr Obi.
The 36-year-old Alcogal is a Panamanian law firm that went on to open overseas subsidiaries offering company formation and registered agent services in BVI, Seychelles, Belize, and Bahamas, and the preparation of corporate documentation in relation to the companies formed. It also provides trust services through its subsidiary trust companies in Panama, BVI, and Belize.
After extensive documentation, Gabriella Investment Limited was born on November 17, 2010, with registration number 1615538. Two figureheads – Antony Janse Van Vuuren and Lance Lawson — were appointed its first directors while ultimate control resided with Mr Obi.
On the same day the company was incorporated, the nominee directors met and issued 50,000 shares of Gabriella Investment in favour of Hill International Holding Corporation, a shell International Business Company operating under the laws of Belize, another tax haven. The director of the company is Mr Van Vuuren, also one of the directors of Gabriella Investment.
It is unclear what businesses Mr Obi transacted with the entities but in some communications, they were sometimes referred to as investment vehicles. Mr Obi told PREMIUM TIMES the offshore entity is the holding company for most of his assets and that the business structure he adapted was to enable him to avoid excessive taxation.
“I am sure you too will not like to pay inheritance tax if you can avoid it,” he told the reporters who interviewed him.
The Memorandum of Incorporation of Gabriella Investment said it was set up to carry on or undertake any business or activity, including trading of any commodities or goods, to do any act or enter into any transactions.
RECALIBRATING THE STRUCTURE AND BRINGING FAMILY UNDER THE UMBRELLA
Mr Obi has since rearranged his offshore businesses. First, he renamed Gabriella Investment. Beginning February 10, 2017, the company became known as PMGG Investments Limited in what is a combination of the first letters of the first names of Mr Obi’s nuclear family. P for Peter (ex-governor), M for Margaret (the ex-governor’s wife), G for Gabriella (the ex-governor’s daughter) and G for Gregory (the ex-governor’s son).
Mr Obi has also now created a trust known as The Gabriella Settlement; an entity also registered in the BVI. According to Fidelity Investments, a trust is a fiduciary arrangement that allows a third party, or trustee, to hold assets on behalf of a beneficiary or beneficiaries. Experts believe that trusts are traditionally used for minimising taxes even though they can offer other estate plan benefits as well.
By the current structuring of Mr Obi’s wealth and offshore businesses, The Gabriella Settlement, which appears to hold all or a majority of his assets, is the sole shareholder of PMGG Investments.
In turn, a New Zealander entity, Granite Trust Company Limited is the sole trustee of The Gabriella Settlement. Sam Access International, the Monaco-based secrecy enabler Mr Obi first hired in 2010 to set up his offshore structure, was until August 23, 2019, the sole shareholder of Granite Trust.
Antony Janse Van Vuuren, who has acted as a consistent and perpetual director for almost all of Mr Obi-related offshore entities popped up again, making the filing that brought in another Monaco-based company, Rhone Acces Sam as the sole shareholder of Granite Trust. However, Rhone Trust and Fiduciary S.A., a Swiss entity, is the ultimate holding company for Granite Trust.
MR PETER OBI AND HIS MAN FRIDAY
A central and recurring figure in former Governor Obi’s network of offshore companies and on whom the politician appears to place immense trust is Antony Janse Van Vuuren, a 70-year-old South African based in the principality of Monaco in France. Experts in Illicit Financial Flows consider Monaco a tax haven because of its generous tax laws and policies.
According to KPMG Multi Family Office, the principality of roughly 30,000 inhabitants does not charge wealth tax, property tax, investment income tax, and capital gains tax. It also does not tax dividends and directors’ fees and unless they are French nationals, resident individuals are not subject to personal income tax while inheritance tax is zero per cent for spouses and direct beneficiaries. It is unclear if it was this mouth-watering tax regime that attracted Mr Obi to Monaco.
What is however clear is that, in 2010, four years after he became governor, the politician or his representatives hired Monaco-based Acces International, where Mr Van Vuuren has been partner and director for 25 years, to help him create a secret and intricate scheme for managing his assets. Mr Obi told PREMIUM TIMES that British Lloyds Bank’s advice informed his offshore structure decision.
From Monaco in France to Tortola in the BVI, to Wellington in New Zealand, and to Geneva in Switzerland, Mr Van Vuuren has travelled around the world running business errands for Mr Obi and taking major decisions on his behalf.
While Mr Obi stays comfortably behind the curtain, the South African has remained the face of the ex-governor’s companies and the assets they hold. For the past decade, he is the politician’s number one business arranger in the offshore world as well as the custodian of the politician’s business-related documents and correspondences.
Mr Van Vuuren, a veteran nominee director for possibly tens or hundreds of shell companies, attended the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where he graduated in 1967 with a Bachelor of Commerce, Accounting and Business Management. He also obtained an MBA from Durham University in 1977.
A HISTORY OF PLAYING OFFSHORE
A 1991 leaked incorporation document reveals a certain Peter Obi and two other individuals – Donatus Ogbogu and Uche Okagbue – to have incorporated Beauchamp Investments Limited in Barbados.
The firm was incorporated as an international business company on August 20, 1991, with registration number 7305. The setting up of the company was handled at the time by a certain Peter L. Chase. What businesses the company does and what assets it holds remain unclear. Mr Obi denied knowledge of the firm as well as of Messrs Ogbogu and Okagbue. He said the individual who incorporated Beauchamp was possibly another businessman who happened to bear a similar name as him.
However, Next International (UK) Limited, another of the former governor’s overseas companies, was incorporated on May 16, 1996, in London. Mr Obi and his wife, Margaret, were listed as directors while Next International (Nigeria) Limited (with 999 ordinary shares) and Mr Obi (with one ordinary share) were listed as shareholders.
The exact businesses the company undertook in its 25-year history remained unclear, although, on March 8, 2001, the firm reported taking a mortgage from Lloyds TSB Bank Plc for a property on 53 Clyde Road, Croydon.
BREAKING THE LAW: NUMBER 1
In Nigeria, a person is statutorily obligated to withdraw from engaging in or directing a private business, except if it is farming, upon becoming a public officer, Section Six (6) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act stipulates.
However, our investigation, based on records obtained from the UK Companies House shows that Mr Obi continued to be a director of Next International (UK) Limited for 14 months after becoming the governor of Anambra State, thereby breaking Nigeria’s law. The politician resigned from the company on May 16, 2008, 14 months after he assumed duties as Anambra governor. He took office on March 17, 2006.
Mr Obi did not dispute the records PREMIUM TIMES cited but he claimed he “resigned immediately” by handing his wife his resignation letter. He suggested that his company might have failed to effect the changes on time or the UK Companies House did not immediately document his exit. But the UK companies registry said Mr Obi indeed resigned on May 16, 2008, and that it received his notice of resignation for electronic filing on June 16, 2008.
BREAKING THE LAW: NUMBER 2
Nigerian public officers are required to declare “immediately after taking office and thereafter all” their properties, assets, and liabilities and those of his (or her) unmarried children under the age of eighteen years,” Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution stipulates (Section 11, Part of the Fifth Schedule).
PREMIUM TIMES investigation also found that Mr Obi breached this constitutional provision on assets declaration. We can authoritatively report that Mr Obi did not declare to the Code of Conduct Bureau the companies he tucked away in offshore secrecy havens.
Mr Obi caused to be created for him a structure of secrecy that had previously, until the Pandora Papers investigation, meant he could continue to hold foreign assets in a way that breaches Nigeria’s law without the knowledge of authorities in the country. In an extra layer of secrecy, Mr Obi used paid nominees as directors, while he remains the ultimate beneficial owner, making it nearly impossible to discover his interests in those companies but we obtained rare incorporation documents proving his link.
Otherwise, Mr Obi could have forever hoped to continue to hold the assets, that he did not declare when he had a statutory obligation to do so as a governor, without any authority or the public calling him to account.
In his response, Mr Obi ridiculously suggested that those offshore companies and assets are jointly owned with his family members and that he was not under obligation to declare companies jointly owned. “I don’t declare what is owned with others,” Mr Obi told PREMIUM TIMES. “If my family owns something I won’t declare it. I didn’t declare anything I jointly owed with anyone.”
This is contrary to the position of the Constitution, which specifies the declaration of all assets, whether jointly or partly owned, PREMIUM TIMES’ reporters told Mr Obi. He said he was not aware of that provision of the law.
Nevertheless, leaked records show Mr Obi is the sole ultimate beneficial owner of the offshore companies. So, he did not even jointly own it with anyone.
In that case, Mr Obi has violated Nigeria’s Code of Conduct law and, if authorities decide to act appropriately, he could be arraigned before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, a special court that tries public officers for any contravention of the Code of Conduct for Nigerian public officers as spelt out in the Fifth Schedule of the Nigerian constitution.
The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) were established to enforce “a high standard of morality in the conduct of government business, and to ensure that the actions and behaviour of public officers conform to the highest standards of public morality and accountability.”
BREAKING THE LAW: NUMBER 3
The former governor could be charged with failing to declare his offshore holdings and their associated assets and operating foreign accounts while being a public officer.
The Nigerian constitution and the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act forbid a public officer from maintaining or operating a bank account outside Nigeria. However, as a governor, Mr. Obi continued to operate and maintain foreign accounts, including with Lloyds TSB.
Mr. Obi told PREMIUM TIMES that he received the advice to create an offshore structure from Lloyds TSB, which then introduced him to intermediaries who helped him to set up com where he continued to operate a foreign account as a governor.
The offences violate sections of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended.
Asked if he is concerned that Nigerians would be disappointed at him following our finding of his opaque and lawless dealings as a governor, Mr Obi said he was more concerned about his U.K. and U.S. schools’ alumni network, his business and foreign creditors. He insisted that he served well as Anambra governor and Nigerians already have their opinions about him.
The former governor could be charged for failing to declare the company and its associated assets and perhaps operating foreign accounts while being a public officer.
Mr Obi told PREMIUM TIMES that he received the advice to create an offshore structure from Lloyds where he continued to operate a foreign account as a governor.
The offences violate sections of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended.
MR OBI AND MISSED TAX OPPORTUNITY
In June 2017, the federal government launched the Voluntary Assets and Income Disclosure Scheme (VAIDS), an initiative seeking voluntary disclosure of previously undeclared assets and income with a view to paying all outstanding liabilities. The VAIDS offered a nine-month window and incentives that included immunity from prosecution for tax evasion and undeclared assets, which would have benefited people like Mr Obi.
A key objective of the VAIDS was curbing illicit financial flows and tax evasion, which commonly feature the use of offshore holdings to shift taxes from where they are earned to havens where little or no taxes are paid.
The government in 2017 said defaulting individuals and corporate bodies who failed to take advantage of the VAIDS would be subject to criminal prosecution.
A number of Nigerian public officials with previously undeclared assets tucked away overseas participated in the VAIDS and got clearance certificates. Mr. Obi shunned the scheme and continued with his opaque business dealings in breach of the law.

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