NEWS
CUBANA GROUP CLEARS AIR AS OBI CUBANAS OLD LIBERIA PHOTOS RESURFACE AMID EX-VICE PRESIDENT HOWARD-TAYLOR DRUG, MONEY LAUNDERING CASE
The Cubana Group has moved swiftly to distance its Chairman, Obi Cubana, from the drug trafficking and money laundering allegations involving former Liberian Vice-President, Jewel Howard-Taylor, following the resurgence of photographs from a 2021 business visit to Liberia.
Howard-Taylor was arrested on August 19, 2026, at the Roberts International Airport and has reportedly been charged with several serious offences, including drug trafficking, conspiracy, criminal facilitation and money laundering.
Her arrest has triggered renewed scrutiny of her past associations, particularly after old photographs showing her alongside prominent Nigerian businessmen, including Obi Cubana, and Kennedy “Ned” Okonkwo, resurfaced on social media.
However, the Cubana Group has strongly rejected attempts to link the Nigerian businessman to the criminal allegations currently facing the former Liberian vice-president.
According to the organisation, the 2021 trip to Liberia was a legitimate trade and investment mission aimed at exploring business opportunities across several key sectors, including tourism, hospitality, real estate, agriculture and other areas of economic development.
The group explained that the meeting with Howard-Taylor was neither secret nor unusual, as she was the serving Vice-President of Liberia at the time and played an active role in promoting investment opportunities within the country.
The Cubana Group further pointed to comments reportedly made by Howard-Taylor during a 2023 interview, in which she described Obi Cubana as part of a broader Nigerian trade delegation that visited Liberia to explore investment opportunities, particularly within the tourism sector.
Contemporaneous reports from the period also reportedly documented discussions surrounding possible investments, including plans for a proposed five-star hotel and agricultural projects.
The organisation maintained that none of the reports, photographs or publicly available information establishes any connection between Obi Cubana, E-Money, Ned Okonkwo or the other Nigerian businessmen involved in the visit and the criminal allegations now confronting Howard-Taylor.
It described the attempts to draw a connection between a legitimate business meeting held five years ago and the former vice-president’s current legal troubles as speculative and a clear case of guilt by association.
The Cubana Group urged the media and members of the public to examine the circumstances surrounding the 2021 visit based on the facts and information available at the time, rather than drawing conclusions from photographs and associations alone.
It also stressed that the allegations against Howard-Taylor should be determined strictly through credible evidence and due process.
Reaffirming its position, the Cubana Group said it remains committed to legitimate business, investment, job creation and the continued expansion of African enterprises across
international markets.