CCB Probes Obi, Saraki, Mark, Oduah Over Panama Papers

Nigeria’s Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) has begun investigating seven prominent Nigerians named in the Panama Papers and Pandora Papers over alleged undeclared offshore assets and business interests.

The CCB is the agency that monitors public officers and receives their asset declarations.

According to Premium Times, sources at the bureau confirmed the development.

The newspaper was part of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) global investigations.

The seven include Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) and a former Anambra State governor.

Others are former Senate Presidents Bukola Saraki and David Mark, and former Aviation Minister Stella Oduah.

The list also has the late former Bayelsa State governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, and former Delta State governor James Ibori.

The last is Stella Ogene, a retired President of the Delta State Customary Court of Appeal.

A CCB source said all Nigerian officials named in the leaks would be investigated.

“All the Nigerian officials named in the Panama and Pandora papers will be investigated. But seven of them have been assigned to case officers who have already commenced investigations,” the source said.

Newspaper Pressed The Bureau

The bureau has no official spokesperson, but an aide to its chairman also confirmed the probes.

In October 2021, the CCB wrote to Premium Times about the Pandora Papers.

It said the investigation had “created ripples across the globe” and asked for the newspaper’s cooperation.

Editor-in-Chief Musikilu Mojeed replied on October 18, 2021.

“The primary motivation for our work is to help the public obtain the information they need to ask questions and make informed decisions and for law enforcement agencies to have the leads they require for necessary actions,” he said.

However, the newspaper heard nothing for years, so it wrote again on July 29, 2026.

“Several years after that engagement, however, there has been little or no public indication that investigations have been initiated or concluded regarding a number of public officials named in the Pandora Papers,” Mojeed wrote.

The CCB replied in September that it was reviewing the materials.

It declined to give details to avoid prejudicing the process.

What The Leaks Allege

The 2021 report alleged that Obi stayed a director of a British firm, NEXT International (UK) Limited, for 14 months after becoming governor.

It said this was contrary to Section 6 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act.

Obi did not deny the findings but said he did not know he had to declare jointly owned assets.

He has also said he never diverted public funds, though the report did not accuse him of that.

The report also alleged that Oduah bought four London properties worth £6.7m through a Seychelles company between 2012 and 2013.

Oduah was aviation minister from 2011 to 2014.

The Panama Papers, leaked from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca and published in 2016, linked more than 140 Nigerian individuals and companies to offshore entities.

Premium Times reported that the Saraki family held at least four undeclared offshore assets.

It also reported that Mark was linked to at least eight British Virgin Islands companies while in office.

Alamieyeseigha, who governed Bayelsa from 1999 until his impeachment in 2005, was linked to a British Virgin Islands company.

What The Law Requires

Owning offshore companies is not illegal in itself.

However, the Code of Conduct for Public Officers requires officials to declare their assets and those of their spouses and children under 18.

It also bars them from running private businesses except in specified cases and from operating foreign bank accounts.

Officials found culpable can be prosecuted at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

Others named in the Panama Papers include Aliko Dangote, Wale Tinubu, Theophilus Danjuma and Mike Adenuga.