Baba Ijebu run by Kessington Adebutu, Nigeria’s gambling mogul whose business empire has enjoyed decades of patronage as a household name across the country, has become a new target of a vast corruption investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), AUTHENTIC learnt.
As part of the investigation on Tuesday, anti-graft detectives at the EFCC office in Lagos detained and questioned Segun Adebutu, son of the octogenarian, questioning him on matters ranging from alleged tax fraud to economic sabotage, sources familiar with the development, AUTHENTIC Learnt.
Anti-graft officials said Mr Adebutu’s business activities recently became a subject of their suspicion following a petition from another betting company, Western Lotto.
The December 2019 petition from Western Lotto, run by politician Buruji Kashamu, asked the EFCC to investigate billions of naira in lost government revenues and tax fraud against Mr Adebutu’s Premier Lotto. PREMIUM TIMES saw a copy of the petition on Tuesday.
Officials told News men they have identified at least N5 billion in revenue losses against the government since the investigation began — directly blaming the management of Premier Lotto for allegedly shortchanging Nigerians.
Tony Orilade, chief spokesperson for the EFCC, did not immediately return a request seeking comments about the arrest and ongoing investigation into Premier Lotto and other lottery operators.
The multiple allegations of tax fraud and economic sabotage levelled against Mr Adebutu marked a remarkable tumble for one of the Nigerian bookies most powerful and admired personality.
Far known as ‘Baba Ijebu’, Mr Adebutu has been widely hailed as pioneering inclusive gambling in Nigeria and shooting it into the mainstream.
Although it was only in 2001 that he registered Premier Lotto, the betting franchise that accounts for the largest share of his wealth, Mr Adebutu’s reputation as a driving force of Nigerian gambling trade has spanned decades before its commercialisation.
Segun Adebutu is only one of at least four children who are management officials at Premier Lotto, AUTHENTIC learnt. Some of them are also top executives of the regulatory federal lottery board.
The success of Mr Adebutu’s betting exploits imbued former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s interest in establishing a federal agency to regulate lotteries across Nigeria in 2005. Several private entities have since sprung up, taking bets from multiple sporting activities, especially football.
But the raging allegations against Premier Lotto, by far the largest betting conglomerate in Nigeria, could deal a setback to the industry’s hopes for competing with banking in the financial services sub-sector, according to officials familiar with the investigation.
