05/21/2026
🚨🇳🇬
The wife of my late father’s cousin Florence Ajimobi, the wife of the late former Governor of Oyo State, Abiola Ajimobi, was NOT convicted of money laundering in the UK incident in 2012. The rumors regarding money laundering primarily stem from a 2012 incident where reports circulated that she had been arrested by London’s Metropolitan Police for possessing £400,000 in cash. However, these claims were debunked. Mrs. Ajimobi and her husband strongly denied the reports upon her return to Nigeria, describing them as "laughable" and "mischief" aimed at tarnishing her reputation. Governor Ajimobi even filed a N1 billion lawsuit against the newspaper that originally published the story even blaming PDP as sponsoring it.
I began investigating the entire story in my home office. JOURNALISM has no favours. When my dad got a phone call from late Arisekola, he came to beg me to kill the story. I dont do such but that would be my second story killed after the Adeleke one.
Florence clarified that her trip was to accompany her child to school and that her travel route did not match the timeline reported by the media. While political opponents and social media have occasionally revisited these allegations over the years, no official charges or convictions for money laundering have ever been substantiated against her.
The truth is that she actually carried that £400K money on the plane UNDECLARED and was detained at the airport pending investigation. You have to declare anything over $£€10K on cash. It was late Aare Arisekola that actually made all the phone calls and connections to MetPolice and got her released. Arisekola knew everyone in high places in the UK 🇬🇧 That was the era when Nigeria had great Muslim leaders known globally not funding terrorism. I’m not saying it was acceptable but I keep archives of stories I may tell in the future. First lady Ajimobi was a business woman who ran the popular Grandex supermarket chain in Nigeria with goods coming in weekly.
She is now a Nigerian Ambassador-designate. Don’t know her country portfolio yet as I’m no longer in journalism.