THE MAN BEHIND THE THRONE

Added: 2026-05-21

[00:00:01][music] In Nigeria, the most dangerous men are not the ones on the evening news. I mean, they are not the ones who never appear on it at all.

[00:00:13]Right now, as you watch this video, the Nigerian government is spending what could amount to more than 18 trillion [snorts] naira. Money that belongs to over 220 million Nigerians on projects awarded without public bidding to a single man. That man has a criminal conviction for money laundering. He has been placed on a terrorism watch list by the United States government. He has been accused of helping one of Africa's most notorious dictators loot billions from Nigeria's own treasury. His name is Gilbert Chagury [music] and he is president's closest business ally. This is not a conspiracy theory. This is a documented fact confirmed by Swiss courts, American prosecutors, global investigative journalists at OCCP and ICI and Nigeria's own corporate affairs commission. Yet most Nigerians have never heard his full story. Now think about it. Today we are going to change that. Stay with me [music] because what you are about to hear affects every single Nigerian whether you're living abroad, you're living in Lagos, London, Houston, or even the streets of Kaduna.

[00:01:32]To understand who Gilbert Chow [music] is today, you need to understand where he came from and how a man born in Lagos to Lebanese immigrant parents quietly became one of the most powerful unelected figures in Nigeria's [music] history. Gilbert Rams Shagui was born in Lagos and his parents were Lebanese immigrants who had immigrated to Nigeria from Msaria, a small village in the northern governorate of Lebanon. His father Rammes Churi arrived West Africa [music] in the 1930s following what was a wellworn migration trial. He traded in textiles, [music] helped his brother run small trucking operations and young Chry grew up in Lagos, then left for Lebanon to study in college de Ferez, the college of the Christian brothers.

[00:02:24]Before returning to Nigeria, he returned not as a student but as a businessman hungry for opportunity. According to his own biography, he started out selling shoes but he did not stay in his shoes for long. Children returns to [music] Nigeria coincided with the immediate post independence era. A period where Nigeria was scrambling to build infrastructure from scratch and contracts were flowing enough to anyone bold enough to claim them. In 1971, Gilbert Chagury and his younger brother Ronald co-founded the Chaluri Group.

[00:02:59]What started as a modest construction operation would grow over the following decades into one of the largest private conglomerate in West Africa. Today, the Chagury Group's portfolio spans construction, real estate, floor mills, water bottling, glass manufacturing, insurance, hotels, [music] furniture, telecommunications, IT, catering and international financing. Amongst its crown drill high-tech [music] construction company, ITV Nigeria Limited, South Energy Nigeria, the company behind Echo Atlantic City, the Echo Hotel and Suits in Lagos, Hotel Presidential in Botacort, and over a dozen other subsidiaries spanning Nigeria and beyond. The group employs by some estimates over 10,000 people in Nigeria alone. The main street in Mesara, Lebanon, Gilbert Chaluri's ancestral hometown is named Bolivard Gilbert Chaluri. The town square is named Rammes Chaluri Square after his father, the deputy minor of Misara once told Middle East eye that Churri was quote like a god. He can do whatever he wants [music] at the municipality.

[00:04:13]No need to be elected. That quote about Myaria tells you everything you need to know about [music] what Chry also became in Nigeria. A man above accountability.

[00:04:26]A man whose influence stretched beyond democratic institution into the corridors of raw transactional power.

[00:04:34]He's also a man who cultivated a carefully constructed image as a philanthropist. His name graces a gallery at the Lou Museum in Paris. He founded the Gilbert and Rosemary Chalguri School of Medicine and the Alis Rames Chaluri School of Nursing at the Lebanese American University. [music] He's a major donor to the St. Jude Children Research Hospital in the United States. Pope John Paul II awarded him the order of St. Gregory the Great and he serves curiously as the ambassador and permanent delegate of the [music] tiny Caribbean island nation or St. Lucia to UNESCO and the Vatican. Why does a Nigerian Lebanese bologonia serve as an ambassador for a Caribbean island he has no root in? We will come back to this question because the answer is very telling. If Gilbert Chaly built his fortune during Nigeria's postindependence construction boom, he built his power during one of the darkest chapters in Nigeria's modern history. The military dictatorship of General Sani Abbacha ceized power in November 1993 through a troop that tropled the civilian government of Ensronica.

[00:05:50]He would rule Nigeria with an iron fist until his sudden death in 1998. And in those five years, Abbacha and his associates was said to have looted an estimated two to five billion dollars from the Nigerian treasury, one [snorts] of the largest act of [music] state theft in African history. And Gilbert Chagri was right there in the middle of it. Chry himself has said [music] that he met Apacha by chance on a flight to Potakot when Apbacha was still a young military officer. The true struck up a friendship that would years later transform into something more dangerous than me acquaintance. By 1993, when Abbacha ceased power, Chaluri had become the general's indispensable advisor. He was in the words of Nuhu Ribbadu, Nigeria's former chairman of the Economic and Financial Cris Commission, the king P in the corruption that defined Abbacha's regime. This is not a casual insult. This is a former characterization of Nigeria's top anti-corruption prosecutor at the time.

[00:06:54]Here is what happened. Within months of Abbacha taking office in 1993, his administration began diverting money from Nigerian central bank to overseas account held by his family and his associates, including accounts under Chry's control. cut documents from a later lawsuit brought by the Nigerian government against Abbacha's heirs and associate would confirm that the dictator fraudulently ordered that these transfers under the guise of national security [music] payment. By the time of Abbacha's death in 1998, those socalled security payment totaled approximately $2 billion, but that was less than half of the total funds that money laundry investigators around the world estimated Abbacha and his [music] associates stole. And Gilbert Chagury helped move that money. Specifically, court documents from 2000 prosecution in Geneva, Switzerland showed that Chaguri helped set up accounts in SG Rouge Bank in Geneva for the Abbacha family.

[00:07:57]Through those accounts, over $120 million were illegally transferred from Central Bank of Nigeria. Switzerland opened criminal proceedings and in the year 2000, Chagri was convicted by a court in Geneva of money laundering [music] aiding a criminal organization. Let that settle in for a moment. The man who today holds over 15 trillion naira worth of Nigerian government contracts was convicted in court of law of laundering money stolen from Nigerian people.

[00:08:31]>> [laughter] >> He paid a fine of $600,000.

[00:08:34]He refunded $66 million to the Nigerian government and in exchange he secured in unity from prosecution in Nigeria itself.

[00:08:45]But here's the part that should enrage every [music] Nigerian.

[00:08:50]$66 million returned is a fraction of what would investigators I mean estimates that Chry had held some $300 million in Swiss banks tied to Abbacha's looting. He returned some kept his freedom and was back in business.

[00:09:08]Meanwhile, the Nigerian government that received 66 million. The government was supposed to represent the same people who were robbed eventually cleared him and allowed his business empire to continue expanding on Nigerian soil.

[00:09:23][music] Now beyond Abachas Nigeria, Chagri extended his role as political [music] advisor across West and Central Africa. He advised the president of Chad Idris. He cultivated relationship with American presidents, donating between one and $5 million to Clinton Foundation and $460,000 to a Democratic party linked to voter registration group. Earning himself an invitation to the President Clinton's [music] White House dinner in 1996. His ambassador post for St. Lucia at the Vatican and UNESCO was not charity. It was strategy. I mean providing diplomatic cover and international legitimacy for a man whose business practice has attracted the attention of law enforcement on three continents. The image of Gilva Chagri that the world sees philanthropist diplomat art patron is carefully engineered. [music] The reality documented in court records, the congressional investigations, the international reporting is something far more complicated and far more dangerous.

[00:10:32]I mean, we have already established that Gilbert Chagury is convicted money launderer. But the legal and intelligence record against him does not stop there. After a bachelor's regime, Chagri attempted to rebuild his image and quietly returned to Nigeria. It did not go smoothly in 2004. during the Obassenger administration. Then EFCC's chairman Nu Riadu organized a sting operation to arrest Chowri and you know seize his private jet as he attempted a secret [music] entry into Nigeria.

[00:11:04]Chagri was tipped off and his jet landed then turned around and left before Robu could execute the arrest. [music] I mean, Robu later recounted this episode in interviews with foreign journalists, expressing regret that the man he described as Abbacha's chief financial enabler [music] had slipped through his finger. Chagri did not return openly to Nigeria for years after that. But his proxies, companies, and political tentacles, they never left. They were very much present in Nigeria even after he had left. In 2010, the United States Department of Homeland Security detained Calgary for over 4 hours at the airport in New Jersey because his name had appeared on the America no fly list. The government later apologized officially, but the underlying suspicion that had landed on him, that list was not so easily dismissed, and in 2015, he was denied entry into the United States entirely. a visa refusal based on information flagged by multiple American security agency. The Los Angeles Times later reported that in 2013 FBI intelligence report citing that the bureau described a raw unverified information from the source claimed that Chagri had sent fund to Michael the Lebanese Christian politician and former Lebanese army commander and those funds had then been transferred to Hesbula.

[00:12:33]The sources also alleged that Michael was citing fundraising for Hesbola. Now we must be precise here because precision matters. Chry had denied these allegations in their entirety. He later sued the United States government, naming the FBI, the Department of Justice, the CIA, the National Counterterrorism Center, the Department of Homeland Security, US Custom Border Protection, and the State Department, arguing that this false information had been leaked to the media and stored in government databases that deprived him of the constitutional right to travel and damaged his ability to do businesses as Bank began refusing to work with him and his representatives in [music] his loss. So Chry's legal team described the terror allegation as false and defamatory. The United State government never formally charged him with terrorism financing and the inter agency memos referenced in the LA Time reportings were leaked not formally confirmed. Now but here is the question that does not go away. Why would seven of Africa's most powerful security agency, the FBI, CIA, DHS, [music] DOJ, NCTC, CPP, and the State Department all have his name in a database [music] flagged for terrorism link. I mean, if there was nothing there, the US government's terrorism watch list and no [music] fly list are not maintained carelessly. Getting on them requires a threshold of concern. And the allegations, even if unproven, were serious enough that the State Department denied a visa to a billionaire who had donated millions to the Clinton Foundation, a man with considerable political connections in the White House. And we know this for certain. In 2021, Chry and two of his business associate reached a defect prosecution agreement with the US Department of Justice. not for terrorism but for illegal campaign contributions.

[00:14:31]America's law prevents foreign nationals from making contributions to the US political campaigns. Chry, a Nigerian Lebanese citizen, routed approximately 180,000 to the campaign committees of four US congressional candidates, including Republican Congressman Jeff Fortbury of Nebraska. through straw donors, meaning Americans who donated money that was actually Cherries under their own names to hide his involvement. Now, this is a federal crime and he was caught. The total fine paid by Chry and his associates was 1.8 million. Fodbury was later convicted of lying to federal investigators about his knowledge of the illegal contribution and announced his resignation from Congress in 2022. Now, on top of all of this, Char's name appears in the Panama Papers, the massive global leak of offshore financing document that exposes the hidden wealth of um politicians, criminals, business people around the world. His brother's name Ronald also appeared on offshore accounts in British Vin Islands. Illegal campaign contributions in the United States.

[00:15:48]Money laundering convictions in Switzerland. FBI terror financing allegations. A US visa denial. A sting operation by Nigeria's own anti-corruption agency. This is this is not the biography of a simple philanthropist. I mean, this is the record of a man who has learned over decades how to operate in the gray zone between legality and criminality [music] and how to use money, influence, diplomatic cover to stay just beyond reach of justice. And [music] this is a man who has become the single biggest recipient of Nigeria's government contract [music] since President B Ainu became the president in May [music] 2023. Think about that.

[00:16:33]Now the relationship between Gila Chaguri and Baobu is one of the most consequential and least examined relationship in modern Nigerian politics. It goes back to at least Tibu's tenor as LEGO state government between 1999 to 2007. I mean during those years Tenebul's administration awarded a series of contracts to Chry's company including for the construction of the Leki expressway and the Muritalam Mohammed airport road. It is worth noting that the Leki road project awarded to Chris firm was never completed. I mean [music] was never completed and the Lego state government eventually had to buy it back. You know, but the most consequential gift of those years was not a road contract. [music] In 2007, Tinu's Lagos state government granted the Chry group title to 10 million square meters. That is 10 billion square meters of land. I mean on the shores of Lagos. This is the land on which the Echo Atlantic City now rest and is being [music] built today among the most expensive real estate in West Africa. Think about what what that means. I mean, a sitting governor gave 10 million square [music] meters of Lagos oceanfront land to his business highlight. No public auction, no [snorts] competitive bid. And that same land is now a billion dollar real estate project generating enormous wealth for the Children Group. The personal ties between the two family runs deep and Ronald Chowri's younger brother got married in 2007. Tinubu repeatedly flew to Monaco to attend the wedding. When Tumbu, the president's son, had his own wedding, the Chowgre were represented. The family's vacation together. They celebrate birthdays together in 2023. After Tonovo won the presidency, Gilbert Chagri was officially listed in Nigeria's delegation to COP 28, the global climate conference in Dubai as Tinubu's confidant, not a minister, not a diplomat of any Nigerian's institution, a private businessman listed formally as the president's confidant on a state delegation. And now when Chagri turned 78 in 2024, President Tino publicly described him and I want you to hear this carefully, a valued and treasured person who was generous with his heart and resources.

[00:19:08]He added, "With friends like him, one can sleep with a still mind." The president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria said he sleeps [music] with a steal mind because of a man convicted of money launderry stolen from Nigeria's central bank. Now let's talk about Shu.

[00:19:27]In May 2024, former vice president Atiku Abuaka, citing a report from the Paris-based African Intelligence News Agency, revealed that Olu Ainu, the president's son, is a director on the board of CDK Integrated Industries, a subsidiary of the Child Group. CDK manufactures, I mean ceramic ties and sanitary wares. And this was not a coincidence. This was documented in corporate affairs commission's filings.

[00:19:56]But it gets deeper. The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project OCCP, one of the world's most respected investigative journalism network, published a bombshell in August 2024, working with documents leaked to the international conerto of you know investigative journalist OCCP revealed that Olu Aubu was the majority shareholder in an offshore company registered in the Bridges Virgin Island along with Ronald Chry Jr. Son to billonia Ronald Chagri. I mean wait read that again. The son of Nigeria's president co-owned an offshore company in a British Virgin Island tax haven with the son of the man receiving the largest government contract in Nigeria's history. Let that sink in. Additionally, investigative reports confirm that Olu and Ronald Chagri Jr. are also both on the board of LOAD prom media communication consultancy Sha's own outdoor advertising agency which has become the dominant player in Lagos outdoor advertising market critics have long alleged that this dominance was facilitated not by business merit [music] but by political connections to his father I mean Atiko Abubaka was blunt I mean it is on record that the Lagos calaba coastal highway is the most expensive ive single project ever backed upon by the Nigerian government. The fact that it is happening at a time Nigeria is facing the worst economic crisis over is a red flag. And to add insult to injury, the project that is being done in excess of $13 billion was awarded without a competitive bidding process. I mean the government's response the minister of works David Umay insisted the project polo due process the president hasn't had any hand in the award or execution he said this is where the full picture becomes undeniable awarded to high-tech construction company limited a subsidiary of the child group a 700 kilometer coastal highway stretching from Lagos to calaba in cross river state passing through nine states total estimated cost approximately 13 billion US at a conservative naira conversion that is over 15 trillion naira more than half of Nigeria's entire 2024 federal budget of 27.5 trillion naira first government disbbursement February 2024 1 trillion NRA approximately 270 million US released to high-tech to construct the first 47 kilometers of the road process there was no public bleeding the work minister confirmed that the contract was awarded based on high-tech track record not through competitive tender. An environmental impact assessment was not completed before construction. Now the right of way for the 700 km stretch had not been secured.

[00:23:01]It was converted from a public private partnership model to a government funded project and over 1 trillion naira was released without full national assembly approval. Now the project is now facing legal challenges in court. According to the Council of Foreign Relations, the Legos Calaba Highway may be the single most expensive infrastructure project ever backed by the Nigerian government.

[00:23:27]Contract two, the Apapa Tinkan Island [music] Port Rehabilitation awarded to ITV Construction Nigeria Limited, another subsidiary of Chagu, the reconstruction and modernization of Nigeria's two largest busiest port, Apapa and Tim Khan Island in [music] Lagos. Value initially reported to be around $700 million. The Federal Executive Council finally approved the project by February 2025. By October 2025, the government confirmed approval of approximately $1 billion US of$1.4 trillion for port modernization financing a€ 746 million euro financing agreement. Still during present tubu's state visit to London with UK export finance guarantee loans arranged [music] by city bank London. It is worth noting that Gilbert Chagury was reportedly part of Nigeria's delegation on that trip to London. The opposition ADC party described the deal as resembling a colonial era treaty and they also pointed out that the ITB Nigeria has no established track record in seapport construction but they were selected anyways.

[00:24:40]Contract three, the Snake Island Port Container Terminal awarded to ITB Construction Nigeria Limited and Dem Group. The project construction of a new container terminal on Snake Island in Lagos under 45ear concession agreement with MSC Group, the Swiss shipping giant and Niger, a Nigerian maritime company.

[00:25:02]The value of the project part of a $1 billion concession agreement. ITB Nigeria and DEM group were selected as the engineering procurement and construction contractors. The terminal is expected to be completed by 2028.

[00:25:20]Legos calaba highway approximately 13 to 15 trillion NRA conservatively around 11 to 13 billion. Apap tin port approximately 1.4 trillion NRA that's [music] about $1 billion. Snake Island Terminal estimated about hundreds of billions of naira about 1 billion concession total estimated value of the contract awarded to the child group subsidiaries since Tinubu became president in excess of 16 trillion naira or approximately 12 to 14 billion for context I mean Nigeria's entire 2024 federal budget was 27.5 trillion the child group alone has been awarded contracts worth more and half the budget, not through public bidding and not through competitive tender, true friendship. And while this is happening, ordinary Nigerians are paying over 1,000 naira per liter for petrol. Students are sitting in dabdated classrooms. Public hospitals are running out of drugs.

[00:26:23]Workers are going months without salaries. And the cost of food has risen sharply that Nigerians have died in stampede at charity food distribution events. [music] I mean Nigeria ranks 145 out of 180 countries in transparency international's 2023 corruption perception index 145 out of 180. At least Gilbert Chaguri is sleeping well and the president said to himself, "Gilbert Chaguri, [music] convicted money launderer, alleged terror financing suspect, former bagman of a military dictator and is today the single most powerful unelected figure in Nigeria controlling trillions in federal contracts with [music] his friend, the president's son, sitting on his board.

[00:27:08]So why are Nigerian youths not talking about this? I mean, why when you open your Nigerian Twitter X, do you see trending topics dominated by celebrity drama, BBN Nigeria, gossip, football, arguments, skits? Why are millions of Nigerian youths passionately debating about Afro beat artists? Which had a better album, but struggling to name a single contract awarded to Tobago without public bidding. Now, let's be honest, part of this is by design. The Nigerian ruling class has always understood that a distracted population is controllable population.

[00:27:46]Entertainment is not neutral. Constant stimulation, a neverending flood of content, drama, outrage, novelty keeps the mind too busy to think strategically about deeper forces shaping our lives.

[00:27:59]And when you are arguing on Twitter about who dissed who in a rap beef, you're not asking why the foil you buy every week has tripled in price. When you are glued to a reality TV show, you're not researching who benefited from a no bid contract your government just signed. And it's not accident. It is the environment in which a 15 trillion naira contract can be given to a convicted criminal without [music] mass protects shutting down Lagos. But let us not be unfair because there is more to it than elite manipulation.

[00:28:31]Poverty and survival takes up cognitive bandwidth. When you are hustling for your daily bread in a country with over 40% youth unemployment. When you are managing family pressure, power cut insecurity and a constant anxiety of economic hardship. It is genuinely difficult also to sustain civic engagement on complex policies and government issue. The Nigerian government knows this and it exploits this. And there is also the issue of despair. Many Nigerians who understand what is happening have concluded that nothing can be done. That the system is too entrenched, the powerful, too protected. The institutions are too compromised. So why engage? Why sacrifice? Better to get yours when you can and then just survive. But here is what history teaches us. Every transformational change in Nigeria and across Africa has been driven by young people who refuse to let despair be the final answer. The NSA process of 2020 showed that Nigerian youth stand when they choose to organize a skill that shakes the establishment to its core.

[00:29:36]The information infrastructure exists, the intelligence exists. What needs to grow is the habit of connecting the energy to the deeper structural issue.

[00:29:46]The child, the no bid contracts, the offshore accounts, the state capture, not just immediate triggers. And here is what you must understand. The story of Gilbert Chagury is not abstract corruption story. It is your story. It is the story of why your f cost what it cost. Is the story of why your public hospital has no drug. Is the story of why your road has not been fixed in 10 years. Because 15 trillion that could be used to fix the road, build hospitals, stock thosearmacies, the money is going to a convicted money launderer without competitive bidding through a presidential friendship. And while this happens, they hope you are busy arguing about something else. So what can you do? Share this video. Talk about this with people you know. Demand accountability from your elected representatives. Support investigative journalist organization that gives you right information and others who do this work every day. Ask questions that are difficult to answer. Who benefits? Who signed? What was the process? Why was there no bidding? What does my representative say? Democracy is not an event that happens every four years. It is a daily practice. It requires us to stay informed, engaged and undistracted.

[00:31:05]The Belchag may have a gallery at the Lou. [music] He may have audience with the Pope. He may sleep on luxury islands in Paris a few meters from Ellie's palace. But his wealth, his power was built with money that was stolen from your country, from your parents, from you. The question is not whether the facts are out there. The question is what will you do with them?

[00:31:26]The most common way for people to give up their power is by thinking that they don't have anything.

[00:31:31]>> Voice of Africa by Africans.