Neda Bernards Imasuen, the senator representing Edo South and chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions, has announced plans to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on June 12.
Mr. Imasuen, who had previously fled to Nigeria after orchestrating a major bank heist in the United States, made the announcement in Benin City on Sunday, marking his second year in office.
“I will be leaving the Labour Party to the APC as the current disarray in the LP will not help me achieve my aim for my people,” Mr Imasuen said.
The lawmaker stated that his defection from the Labour Party is to align Edo South with the Tinubu-led federal government.
“My movement will also help align Edo South with the federal government and bring development to our people,” Mr Imasuen said.
When Mr. Imasuen formally joins the All Progressives Congress (APC) on June 12—Nigeria’s Democracy Day—he will become the latest in a growing list of opposition politicians to defect to the ruling party.
His defection comes just months after Peoples Gazette published an exclusive exposé detailing his controversial past in the United States, where he fled legal troubles before entering Nigerian politics.
According to U.S. court documents reviewed by The Gazette, Mr. Imasuen was permanently disbarred in New York for misappropriating client funds and repeatedly ignoring subpoenas from the state’s disciplinary authorities.
He was also implicated in a major fraud case involving over $25 million in fraudulent mortgage loans. Federal investigators identified Mr. Imasuen as the attorney who facilitated the transactions at the heart of the bank fraud scheme. His alleged co-conspirator, Imran Ismile Badoolah, was prosecuted in connection with the same network.
A federal grand jury indictment dated December 14, 2012, stated that Mr. Imasuen and his associates defrauded at least 33 financial institutions—including ABN Amro, Citibank, HSBC, Wells Fargo, and Lehman Brothers—by using creditworthy straw buyers, incentivized through illicit means, to obtain fraudulent loans in violation of U.S. federal law.
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