Breaking News:Claim that US intelligence agency found $5 billion in cash at a New York house belonging to Nigeria’s former president Buhari is false

IN SHORT: According to a message on Facebook, the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided a New York house belonging to former Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari and found $5 billion in cash and gold worth $700 million. But there is no evidence to support this claim.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided a New York house belonging to former Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari and found US$5 billion in cash and gold worth $700 million. That’s according to Facebook posts circulating in Nigeria.

The FBI is a US government agency tasked with fighting crimes such as terrorism, corruption and human trafficking.

One such post reads: “Breaking News: $5 Billion in Cash and $700 Million in Gold Found in Buhari’s New York Residence as FBI Raids Property; Trump Orders Clampdown on Nigerian Politicians’ Homes. Trump has ordered the money to be placed on hold as he doesn’t trust the current president of Nigeria, who he said is worse than Buhari.”

The claim can also be found here, here and here. (Note: See more instances listed at the end of the report.)

Buhari was Nigeria’s military head of state between 1983 and 1985. He returned to power as president in 2015 after winning the presidential election on promises to tackle corruption and insecurity. His tenure as president ended on 29 May 2023.

The former president made headlines on 27 January 2025, a day before this claim began circulating. At a meeting of leaders of his political party, the All Progressives Congress, Buhari said he didn’t corruptly enrich himself while in office and was now living on rental income from his two houses in Kaduna, north-west Nigeria.

But did the FBI raid Buhari’s New York house, and did they find $5 billion in cash and $700 million worth of gold? We checked.

No evidence of the claim
In 2024, we debunked a claim about the FBI supposedly finding a stash of $6 billion in cash in a London house belonging to Nigerian government minister Nyesom Wike.

In that fact-check, we established that $6 billion amounted to 60 million $100 bills and would be nearly 10 times the largest single seizure of hidden cash, which amounted to $650 million. This was seized when US forces invaded Iraq in 2003.

In this case, it is 50 million $100 bills, which would be over seven times the Iraq stash. It is unlikely that international media would fail to report such a discovery by the FBI linked to a former Nigerian president.

By comparison, the US decision to return $23 million allegedly stolen by former military head of state General Sani Abacha, received wide media coverage. Abacha ruled Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998.

We found no evidence that Buhari owned a house in New York and that the FBI found $5 billion in cash and $700 million worth of gold in any residence in the US city. The claim is false.

The false claim was also posted here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.