By Vivian Amoah
Over the previous weekend, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle took a trip to Nigeria, an African country that borders the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south.
This marked the Duke and Duchess of Sussexs’ return to Africa since coming to South Africa in 2019.
The trip also marked the pair’s first time visiting the country together.
Reports have claimed that Prince Harry and Meghan were welcomed to Lagos, the largest city in Nigeria, by a fugitive wanted in the US for money laundering and bank fraud.
The Daily Mail reports that Dr. Allen Onyema (59) was among a small group of officials who greeted Prince Harry and Meghan when they arrived in Lagos on Sunday, May 12, 2024.
Onyema is the founder and CEO of Air Peace. This is a Nigerian carrier that Prince Harry and Meghan used on their three-day tour of the country.
The Businessman is well-known in Nigeria. However, he is the subject of a US federal indictment filed back in November 2019.
Back then, the US Department of Justice released a statement saying Onyema was “charged with bank fraud and money laundering for moving more than $20 million (R362 million) from Nigeria through United States bank accounts in a scheme involving false documents based on the purchase of airplanes”.
CNN reported that Onyema allegedly used a portion of the laundered money to buy a Lexus, Rolls Royce, Mercedes, and designer items from Louis Vuitton and Prada. However, it is unclear whether Prince Harry and Meghan were aware of the charges filed against Onyema.
At the time, Onyema maintained his innocence and claimed that he had never laundered money in his life.
“Be rest assured that I also have my lawyers on this, and these mere allegations will be refuted. I never laundered money in my life, neither have I committed bank fraud anywhere in the world,” he said, according to the New York Post.
“Every Kobo [Nigerian currency] I transferred to the US for aircraft purchase went through the Central Bank of Nigeria LC regime, and all were used for the same purpose,” he continued.
This comes after reports claiming Prince William and King Charles were “furious” over Prince Harry and Meghan’s trip to Nigeria. Tom Quinn, a royal author and expert, said that everything that comes with a royal trip was present in the Sussexes trip to Nigeria.
“Everything you might expect from an official royal visit was there—the receptions, the visits to schools and charities, to wounded soldiers and the disabled. William is absolutely furious and determined to find a way to stop this from happening in the future. Charles is said to be angrier than anyone has ever seen him,” said Quinn to The Mirror.
