Trouble as Tinubu’s alleged 1993 indictment by U.S. court over drug trafficking revealed

*Allegation sign opposition is frustrated – Keyamo

By KEMI KASUMU

There is palpable fear across the family of ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Nigeria, as its presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s allegedly unadmitted ugly past is let out to the public amidst preparation for 2023 transitional election for President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor.

The Business Day Newspaper, among others, on Tuesday November 8, 2022 reported how the Twitter had been agog with a United States District Court judgement from the Northern District of Illinois taking possession of Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s money over his involvement in drug trafficking.

Although has been heard at grapevine level for long, the allegation coming at this time and with documents to back the claims has elicited some concerns about the development in the politics of the nation, which some members of the public, who queue behind the Official Spokesman of the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, Mr. Festus Keyamo (SAN), called politically motivated, while others who are holding firm to the serious allegations say it will be difficult for Tinubu to get out the mess and urged APC to let go with him or risk losing the coming election to Atiku Abubakar.

Keyamo said the document alleging that Bola Ahmed Tinubu was indicted in a drug trafficking and money laundering case in the United States is a sign of frustration by the opposition, saying they went of the rail by saying the APC presidential candidate was indicted.

According to the media report, the judgement docketed on July 26, 1993, and certified by Thomas O. Burton, the clerk of the court, indicted Tinubu for heroin trafficking in the state of Illinois through a proxy organisation owned by Adegboyega Mueez Akande and subsequently forfeited the proceeds of the crime to the U.S. government.

The funds, which were held by First Heritage Bank and Citibank in trust for Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), were forfeited to the U.S. government for being proceeds of drug-related offences.

Details from the now-circulated court papers show that Michael J. Shepard, the attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said in 1993 that the court has jurisdiction over the case brought to it by special agent Kevin Moss.

According to the document, the monies held in those forfeited accounts were proceeds from white heroin drug operations operated by Akande and his partners.

Akande had a strong and well-connected narcotics business, whose proceeds were substantial and kept in the forfeited bank accounts, the document shows.

The affidavit revealed that the defendant’s—Tinubu funds—represented a substantial part of the proceeds from this operation or property involved in money laundering. That Judge Michael believes based on indisputable evidence that the funds belonging to Tinubu stashed in his Citibank and First Heritage Bank accounts were proceeds from Akande and other narcotraffickers’ heroin operations.

The judge concluded that the proceeds be forfeited to the US government.

Below is an excerpt of the court judgement:

Reacting to the allegation via his verified Twitter account on Wednesday, Keyamo said those making the claims were chasing a lost battle.

“Sign of frustration: They are seeking to wake a horse long dead and buried and for which a media house publicly apologised in 2016 when they tried to use the story”, he said.

Continuing Keyamo said, “There cannot be an indictment if Asiwaju is not a defender or was not a defendant to that case.

“I repeat it for the umpteenth time, I don’t want to sound like a broken record here. Asiwaju was not a party to that case.

“It was just an account that was sued not him. It was an account in his name that was sued, so how could you indict him if there was no account?” he wondered.

When asked how many accounts were involved, Keyamo simply said 10 in three banks, stating further that, “Not in one person’s name. There were ones linked to his mother. He took responsibility for all of them because they were all Tinubu family.

“His mother was there, his company was there, his brother was there.  At the end of the day, they now pleaded with him that ‘please don’t come against us if it was found that we wrongly seized your accounts in the first place’.”

Keyamo challenged the public to look at Paragraph 6, Page 2 of the settlement signed by the lawyers. He stressed that the lawyers were appealing to Tinubu not to come against  them on the case.

“It was him (Tinubu) giving them indemnity. It was not the other way round by them telling him go and sin no more.

“He (Tinubu) was the one telling them go and sin no more. The documents are there before Nigerians to read,” he said.

The fresh controversy over the APC’s candidate eligibility arose from an old judgment document that resurfaced in the media on Tuesday November 8, 2022 alleging that the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, indicted Tinubu of drug trafficking and money laundering.

According to a media report, one David Hundeyin had in July this year written in an article titled, “Bola Ahmed Tinubu: From Drug Lord To Presidential Candidate”, espoused a similar allegation. Also, in the twilight of the 2015 elections, the same allegation surfaced in the media.

Meanwhile, the allegation has continued to generate mixed reactions from Nigerians on social media. @’Fisayo Soyombo: “The ignominy that a Bola Tinubu presidency will land Nigeria will be unprecedented. Imagine being lost in Democracy or Independence Day celebrations, & a US court suddenly releases fresh evidence of your president’s past dealings.”

@Ahmed Salami: “A document dated October 9th, 1993 is what a journalist in Nigeria tagged as a fresh “leaked document”. Don’tforget; no mainstream had posted this baseless paper because those who tried it before were begging for an out-of-court settlement.”