By Muhammad Mamman
Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, is facing calls for U.S. authorities to investigate and sanction him over alleged multimillion-dollar property acquisitions in Florida.
In a petition dated September 22, activist Omoyele Sowore urged Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier to prosecute Wike for money laundering and to begin forfeiture proceedings. The filing, signed by lawyer Deji Adeyanju, also pressed for U.S. visa restrictions.
The petition alleges Wike, with the help of his wife, Justice Eberechi Nyesom-Wike of Nigeria’s Court of Appeal, secretly purchased three lakeside homes in Winter Springs, Seminole County, between 2021 and 2023. The properties, now worth more than $6 million, were later transferred to their three adult children.
All purchases were reportedly made in cash using quitclaim deeds, a method Sowore argues was designed to conceal illicit funds. The assets were not declared to Nigeria’s Code of Conduct Bureau, in breach of constitutional requirements, the petition claims.
Citing U.S. and Florida anti-money laundering laws, the petition described the acquisitions as a “deliberate scheme to launder the proceeds of corruption into U.S. real estate.”
Wike, a key ally of President Bola Tinubu, has not responded publicly to the allegations.
