Who is Chris Obure, the Nairobi tycoon seeking $59 million over eviction

On the morning of May 16, 2025, more than 15 police officers and approximately 150 hired individuals descended on Senteu Plaza along Lenana Road in Nairobi's Kilimani area. Accompanied by auctioneers from Siuma Auctioneers, they entered the first floor of the building where Chris Obure's company SBS Dunhill Group (EA) Limited had operated since 2017, removed the occupants and changed the locks. When the dust settled, Obure's company alleged that something else had gone missing too: hundreds of kilograms of gold bars, valued at between Sh5.5 billion and Sh5.9 billion, said to be a family investment stored on the premises.

That eviction, and the gold that Obure says disappeared with it, is now the subject of a Sh7.6 billion lawsuit filed at the Commercial and Tax Division of the High Court in Nairobi. It is not the only legal proceeding in which his name currently appears.

The man behind the case

Chrisantus Philip Okeyo Obure, known publicly as Chris Obure, is a Nairobi-based businessman whose commercial interests span aviation, real estate and investment. He chairs SBS Dunhill Group (EA) Limited, which describes itself as an aviation and real estate company. The group operated from the prime office space on the first floor of Senteu Plaza, approximately 8,900 square feet on Lenana Road, one of Nairobi's most commercial and sought-after addresses.

Obure is known in Nairobi business circles as a flashy operator with a taste for luxury vehicles and high-value deals. His supporters describe him as a self-made entrepreneur who built a business empire through connections in aviation, logistics and property. His critics point to a trail of legal disputes that have followed him across more than a decade of commercial activity in the city.

He is not the same person as retired senator Christopher Mogere Obure of Kisii County, a former politician and minister who shares a surname. The city businessman is younger, operating primarily in Nairobi's commercial districts, and has no publicly established political career.

The Senteu Plaza story

The dispute at Senteu Plaza dates to 2017, when SBS Dunhill entered a commercial lease agreement for office space in the building, whose legal title is registered as L.R. No. 1/1373 along Lenana Road. The building is owned by Indian businessman Ajeetkumar C. Shah and associates.

Obure's version of the relationship is that it evolved beyond a landlord-tenant arrangement into a negotiation to purchase the property outright. He says he paid Sh1.3 billion as part of that purchase process, and that the Shahs had given him a board resolution from a company called AC and Others Limited that he says constituted a binding agreement to sell.

The Shahs tell a different story. They say they never agreed to sell the building to Obure or his company, that no binding purchase agreement exists and that the board resolution Obure has relied upon was never authorised by the actual property owners and is therefore invalid.

On December 11, 2025, Justice Charles Mbogo of the Environment and Land Court ruled in favour of the Shahs. The court dismissed SBS Dunhill's ownership claims, held that the company had no legal right to continue occupying the building, found that the board resolution was not binding on the property owners, and confirmed that SBS Dunhill had been in rent arrears when it was evicted. The court found no proven binding agreement for sale.

The eviction and what followed

That court ruling, however, came after the physical eviction that forms the core of Obure's new lawsuit. He was thrown out on May 16, 2025, months before the December ruling was delivered, in what his company describes as a coordinated and violent raid. In court documents, SBS Dunhill describes the auctioneers arriving with armed police and a large hired group, conducting an operation that it says caused devastating losses to its business operations.

The Business Premises Rent Tribunal saw the matter differently from the land court. In July 2025, Tribunal Chairperson Cyprian Mugambi Nguthari ordered Obure's immediate reinstatement to the premises, declaring the eviction unlawful. The tribunal directed Kilimani police to facilitate his return, ordered the Shahs to reopen the building and issued an injunction against further eviction. It even gave Obure the option to break into the premises if the respondents failed to comply. The Shahs were ordered to bear the costs.

The drama at Senteu Plaza that followed the reinstatement order attracted significant media attention. Police surrounded the building. Boda boda riders gathered outside. Obure, accompanied by veteran lawyer Gitobu Imanyara, recorded a statement at Kilimani DCI claiming he was being followed by unmarked vehicles and motorcyclists after regaining access. He accused auctioneer Zachary Baraza of orchestrating the intimidation. Police were deployed at the premises to maintain order.

The new Sh7.6 billion High Court suit, filed as case number 328 of 2026 at Milimani, seeks compensation for the gold bars Obure says disappeared during the eviction, a refund of excess payments amounting to approximately Sh821 million, the cost of renovations and custom installations invested in the premises, lost business income and general damages. The defendants, Ajeetkumar C. Shah, associated property owners and Siuma Auctioneers, had not yet filed their full response at the time of publication.

The forgery charges and asset seizure

The Senteu Plaza ownership dispute is not the only legal proceeding involving Obure. In January 2025, the DCI's Serious Crime Unit arrested him after establishing that he had presented forged board resolutions as genuine documents in an attempt to claim ownership of Senteu Plaza and to lure foreign investors into believing he owned the building. He was arraigned before Chief Magistrate Susan Shitubi at Milimani Law Courts and charged with four counts: forgery, uttering false documents, and providing false information to a public officer. He pleaded not guilty to all four counts. He was released on a personal bond of Ksh 500,000.

Five days before that arrest, Justice Patrick Otieno had authorised the Assets Recovery Agency to seize over Ksh 18 million linked to two private jet leasing firms connected to Obure. Those firms were described in court documents as suspected of involvement in an international money laundering scheme.

In 2010, Obure made headlines when he reportedly blew the whistle on what was described as a blood gold scam operating across East Africa, before leaving Kenya for South Africa citing fears for his life. The gold scam he described involved a network spanning multiple countries in the region.

In 2016 and 2017, his name appeared in police reports linked to incidents involving a firearm outside nightclubs in the Kilimani area. He was reportedly accused in at least five cases involving the alleged misuse of a firearm, including an incident at the B Club in Nairobi where he allegedly drew a gun when confronted over a double-parked Range Rover. He was not convicted of any offence in those matters.

Where things stand

Two courts have issued contradictory rulings on the same building. The Environment and Land Court says SBS Dunhill had no legal right to occupy Senteu Plaza and was in rent arrears. The Business Premises Rent Tribunal says the eviction was unlawful and ordered reinstatement. Both decisions sit uneasily in the same dispute.

Obure faces active criminal charges for forgery, the Assets Recovery Agency has seized money linked to his aviation businesses, and his company is now pursuing a Sh7.6 billion civil claim in a third court, all simultaneously.

He is not a politician. He has not been convicted of any offence. He denies all wrongdoing. But the Senteu Plaza saga, with its disappearing gold bars, its rival court rulings, its police-escorted reinstatement and its Sh7.6 billion civil claim, has made him one of the most talked-about businessmen in Nairobi in 2026.