President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been shortlisted as a finalist for the 2024 “Person of the Year” award by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).
Since 2012, the award has recognised individuals with significant impacts on global organised crime and corruption. The winner is selected by an expert panel from civil society, academia, and journalism.
According to a report published on Tuesday, Tinubu was among the finalists receiving the highest number of nominations. Other finalists included Kenyan President William Ruto, former Indonesian President Joko Widodo, former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and Indian businessman Gautam Adani.
The award for 2024 was ultimately given to Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, whose regime has been criticised for human rights violations, including torture, chemical weapon attacks, and targeting civilians.
For the first time, OCCRP introduced a “Lifetime Non-Achievement Award”, presented to Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo for corruption and human rights abuses during his long rule.
The report highlighted Kenyan President Ruto’s nomination, fuelled by widespread discontent over corruption, youth unemployment, and government policies, which sparked prolonged protests in Kenya earlier this year.
Previous recipients of the award include figures such as María Consuelo Porras (2023), Yevgeny Prigozhin (2022), and Vladimir Putin (2014).