Tinubu Awards $7bn Ogun Deep Seaport Deal to Chagoury-Linked DP World as Nigerians Question His Priorities

President Bola Tinubu’s administration has awarded two major Ogun State deep seaport contracts worth more than $7 billion to DP World MEA FZE, a Dubai-based shipping giant with longstanding ties to Gilbert Chagoury, a Lebanese-Nigerian businessman convicted of money laundering in the United States and a close associate of the President.

The Memoranda of Understanding for the Gateway Deep Sea Port and the Ogun State Blue Marine Special Economic Zone were signed in Paris on Thursday, September 24, 2026, with Tinubu witnessing the ceremony alongside Minister of Marine and Blue Economy Adegboyega Oyetola and NPA Managing Director Abubakar Dantsoho. The projects are expected to attract an initial investment of more than $7 billion and create over 50,000 direct jobs.

DP World’s link to Chagoury is direct and documented. Chagoury arranged a meeting between Tinubu, DP World’s then-CEO Sultan bin Sulayem, and Minister Oyetola on February 26, 2025, where plans for the Ogun deep seaport were discussed. The meeting took place in Paris, the same city where the MoUs were ultimately signed.

Chagoury’s criminal history is a matter of public record. He was convicted in a Swiss court in 2000 for laundering funds looted by Nigeria’s late military ruler Sani Abacha. In January 2026, Tinubu conferred on him the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger, Nigeria’s second-highest national honour.

The Ogun seaport deal is the latest in a series of multi-billion-dollar contracts awarded to Chagoury-linked companies without competitive bidding. The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, a 700-kilometre project valued at approximately N15 trillion, was awarded to Hitech Construction Company, owned by Gilbert Chagoury and his brother Ronald. The contract was awarded without any competitive tender process, drawing condemnation from former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who described the project as wasteful and corrupt.

The combined value of Chagoury-linked projects in Nigeria is estimated at approximately N27 trillion. This includes the coastal highway, the Ogun seaport, and a $6 billion waterfront development. The concentration of public wealth in the hands of a convicted money launderer and his associates is not a development achievement. It is a scandal.

The Ogun seaport deal comes just days after 37 suspected illegal miners died in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Minna, Niger State, and as the Academic Staff Union of Universities threatens a nationwide strike over unpaid allowances. It also comes after the First Niger Bridge was decorated with Tinubu’s pictures by Works Minister David Umahi, turning a public infrastructure project into a campaign billboard.

For a President who has spent 261 days abroad on 52 foreign trips since taking office, the Paris signing ceremony offered another photo opportunity. But for Nigerians struggling with record inflation, food insecurity and a collapsing healthcare system, the deal is not about jobs or investment. It is about a President who has spent more time abroad than at home, who has handed billions of dollars to a convicted money launderer while Nigerians die in police custody, and who has turned public infrastructure into a campaign platform. The President has not visited Minna. He has not met with the families of the 37 miners. He has not addressed the nation on their deaths. Instead, he has signed an agreement that promises to bring more mining investment to a sector that already has a body count. For the families of the 37 miners, the agreement is not a promise of prosperity. It is an insult.

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