Human rights activist and Sahara Reporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore, has accused Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, of secretly transferring multiple properties in Florida, United States, to his wife and children through Quit Claim Deeds.
In a statement posted on his X handle (@YeleSowore) on September 21, Sowore alleged that Wike and his wife, Justice Eberechi Suzette Nyesom-Wike of the Court of Appeal, used the deeds to transfer three properties to their children, Jordan, Joaquim, and Jasmyne, in 2023.
According to him, the transfers contradict Wike’s earlier claims in a televised interview that he was unaware his family owned homes in the U.S. Sowore further claimed that Wike owns a fourth property located at 113 Spring Creek Lane, Winter Springs, Florida.
Sowore described the deeds as part of a strategy often used by corrupt politicians to conceal assets abroad. He explained that while Quit Claim Deeds are legitimate legal instruments typically used in family transactions such as inheritance or spousal transfers, they are also exploited by kleptocrats to launder illicit wealth.
“Properties in Florida, purchased with the proceeds of corruption, were quietly moved into the names of his wife, herself a senior judicial officer in Nigeria, and their children,” Sowore alleged, calling the move a “textbook case of laundering stolen Nigerian wealth into U.S. real estate.”
The activist also suggested that the U.S. Department of Justice could invoke its Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative, which targets properties acquired through corruption, to investigate and possibly seize the assets.
Wike, a former governor of Rivers State and now FCT Minister, has yet to respond to the allegations.
