Tinubu Secretly Recorded Lawyer Who Exposed Abacha’s Looting, Babafemi Ojudu Reveals
Former senator and journalist Babafemi Ojudu has recounted how President Bola Ahmed Tinubu covertly recorded a Jewish lawyer who exposed the financial crimes of late military dictator Sani Abacha. Ojudu shared this revelation during an interview with Edmund Obilo while promoting his book, Adventures of A Guerrilla Journalist.
The incident took place in the 1990s while Tinubu was in exile in the United Kingdom. At the time, Abacha was allegedly embezzling billions of dollars, funneling public funds into foreign accounts in countries such as Switzerland, the UK, and the US.
Ojudu detailed how Tinubu arranged a meeting with the lawyer, who possessed key information about Abacha’s looting and his accomplices, including the Chagoury brothers.
“The lawyer revealed how Abacha was looting and named those aiding him,” Ojudu said. “I couldn’t take notes and had to memorize everything.”
During the meeting, Tinubu excused himself under the pretense of using the restroom. Ojudu later learned that Tinubu had flipped the tape in a recording device to capture the full conversation. “He even flushed the toilet to avoid raising suspicion,” Ojudu added.
After the meeting, Ojudu said Tinubu tried to stop the story from being published, citing potential risks. However, Ojudu defied Tinubu’s warnings. “I told him, ‘If they kill me, so be it.’ I returned to Nigeria, shared the tape with my team, and we published the story. It was a report that shook Abacha’s regime,” he explained.
Ojudu described Tinubu as a “strategist” willing to take calculated risks to achieve his objectives.
The relationship between the two later deteriorated when Ojudu opposed Tinubu’s presidential bid in 2022. He clarified that his decision was not an act of betrayal but one rooted in his convictions. “My stance was based on principles,” Ojudu emphasized.
This revelation sheds light on a pivotal moment in Nigeria’s history, highlighting Tinubu’s role in exposing Abacha’s corruption and Ojudu’s commitment to investigative journalism.
