President Bola Tinubu told Nigerians he once sat in class with Zingman in Chicago. But timelines don’t add up.
A Belarusian businessman with deep ties to autocratic leader Alexander Lukashenko and business footprints in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and other African countries has emerged as a key player in Nigerian President Bola Tinubu’s flagship agricultural initiative.
At a recent ceremony in Abuja, Tinubu commissioned 2,000 tractors, calling the event a step toward revolutionising agriculture in a country grappling with food insecurity. But what caught many off guard was the president’s warm tribute to Zingman, whom he publicly asked to rise and be recognised.
“To all of you, Alex was my very good neighbour and went to the same school with me in Chicago,” Tinubu told the audience. “Never did we dream that I would be in this position as president of Nigeria and Alex, a successful businessman from Belarus.”
However, a basic check reveals that Tinubu’s claim is unlikely. While the Nigerian president attended Chicago State University in the mid-1970s, Zingman was reportedly enrolled at the University of Illinois at Chicago and would have been about 12 years old during Tinubu’s college years.
Belarusian network
The Belarusian’s emergence in Nigeria follows a series of diplomatic and personal overtures. His visit comes just 11 months after Tinubu’s influential wife, Oluremi, visited the President of Belarus, Lukashenko, to thank him for awarding scholarships to 20 Nigerian students through her Renewed Hope Initiative.
Behind the gesture, deeper geopolitical and commercial interests appeared to be at play. At the meeting, Lukashenko told the First Lady: “Please ask President Tinubu to facilitate a visit by our minister of foreign affairs to your country, so we can further develop these areas of collaboration.” He cited agriculture, food processing, industry and education as key areas of interest.
Earlier this year, it had become public knowledge that Tinubu would be awarding the contract for the supply of 2,000 contractors to a foreign company.
Tinubu’s decision to award the $70m contract to a foreign company drew the ire of local manufacturers as it contravenes Tinubu’s “Nigeria first policy”.
Zingman’s connection
Zingman is no stranger to controversy. He is known to have close ties to the Belarusian government and has leveraged this relationship to build a lucrative business network across Africa. Specifically, he supplies heavy-duty equipment to African countries, often with the assistance of the Belarusian government. He has, in the process, struck key relationships with a handful of African leaders, so much so that he now serves as an ambassador or adviser.
At the COP29 climate conference in Azerbaijan last year, he was part of the Zimbabwe delegation, where he was identified as “honourable consulate of Zimbabwe in Belarus,” and as having a paid or contractual relationship with Zimbabwe’s government, Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project reported, adding that he had faced allegations of irregular business dealings in Africa.
Zingman benefitted from President Lukashenko’s visit to Zimbabwe by getting a contract to supply 3,575 tractors at $66m. In 2023, he was part of the delegation of Kenyan President William Ruto to Qatar as an adviser. In 2021, Zingman was arrested alongside his compatriot, Oleg Vodchits, in the Democratic Republic of Congo on suspicion of arms dealing.
He was released without charge after 12 days, and his company, Aftrade DMCC, denied any wrongdoing.
Zingman’s name surfaced in the Pandora Papers, a trove of nearly 12 million leaked documents detailing offshore financial dealings of global elites. The documents allege that Zingman and his business partner used shell companies to conceal involvement in a gold transaction in Zimbabwe. Both men denied any wrongdoing.
Zingman has previously denied all allegations and maintains that his business activities are legal and transparent. (The Africa Report)
