Gilbert Chagoury and his younger brother – Ronald Chagoury a.k.a The Lebanese Brothers are back.
They were pursued out of Nigeria by President Obasanjo.
President Goodluck Jonathan brought them back.
President Buhari entered and pursued them.
President Bola Tinubu has brought them back.
With a networth of $4.5 billion according to Forbes, Gilbert Chagoury is the 4th richest Nigerian though he is no longer resident in Nigeria but over 50% of his income comes from Nigeria and West Africa.
Gilbert Chagoury was a Special Adviser to General Sani Abacha. New York Times called him Abacha’s Fixer. In 2004 Nuhu Ribadu said that Gilbert Chagoury was the conduit pipe through which Abacha laundered money.
Abacha awarded him the construction of The National Assembly Complex Abuja,The Nigerian Defence Academy and State Security Headquarters Abuja.
In 1998, he was one of the largest financial supporters of Bola Tinubu during the Lagos Gubernatorial election. And he has been a long time business partner of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Infact Tinubu’s son Seyi is a Director in the billion-dollar Chagoury Group.
When I saw the pictures of Bola Tinubu and Gilbert Chagoury in France before and after the election, I knew something was about to go down.
Now President Bola Tinubu has awarded him a $13 billion Lagos to Calabar Coastal Highway contract through his company Hitech.
A country with poor internal roads is investing $13 billion on Coastal Highway. My guess is that such a project is easier to pay for and then abandoned.
Bola Tinubu might be compensating him for something with Nigeria’s resources.
Well, only a fool would believe the project would be completed.
Quadri Olaitan is a journalist and contributor to Freelanews.com, covering news, public affairs, and human-interest stories.
