By KEMI KASUMU
Although Official Spokesman of the Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, Mr. Festus Keyamo (SAN), has provided his detailed defence against allegation that his principal, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was indicted by a United States court over drug trafficking and money laundering, members of opposition party are saying his defence was not genuine enough to exonerate the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate for the 2023 election.
Leading the current salvo against the former Governor of Lagos State is former Special Assistant to the President on Social Media during the Administration of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, Pastor Reno Omokri.
In a video he released to the public on Thursday November 10, 2022 and which was watched and listened to by The DEFENDER, Omokri, noting the explanation given by Keyamo, said it is dangerous for Nigeria to have a Tinubu as its next President as, according to him, it will be tantamount to integrity suicidal with Africa’s most populous country standing the risk of losing its worth in the eyes of the world “for having a drug lord as its President”.
In his own words, Pastor Reno Omokri said: “Yesterday November 9, 2022 on Politics Today, a programme on Channels Television, the Minister of State for Labour and Productivity, I should say on Productivity, Barr Festus Keyamo, tried to pull the wool over the eyes of Nigerians by claiming that the $460,000 drug money forfeited by Bola Tinubu, the Presidential Candidate of All Progressives Congress was not drug money but tax. Listen to Barr Keyamo here speak:
“The deposit he made there is what the bankers normally call investment. He kept the money there and was getting profit on the interests. They said he had not paid tax on those interests. That is all! And guess what! The banks were supposed to deduct the tax from source. I have done investment before,” Keyamo’s recorded voice replayed.
Omokri analytically looked at the statement and said, “That statement by Barr Festus Keyamo is an insult to the intelligence of Nigerians. I mean I just don’t know who he expects to believe such trash. I schooled in England up to Master’s level. I got a master’s in law.
“In United States, the agency tasked by United States government to take all forfeited drug money is the IRS and the IRS alone. In the screen right now you are going to see from the IRS, irs.gov and please you can go there yourselves. You are going to see a drug forfeiture judgment against a fellow. He is the cartel leader for Sinaioa drug cartel. His name is Ismail …. And I am going to read from that order. It says that: “He also agreed to forfeit $5 million in drug trafficking proceeds.”
“Now, that is exactly the same thing, word for word with the statement in Bola Tinubu’s court document except for the amount involved.
“While that guy, which was in March 2021, agreed to forfeit $5 million, Bola Tinubu agreed to forfeit $460,000 and it wasn’t tax. Can tax be hundred percent? The entire amount in that account was seized – $460,000. How can that be tax?
“If you go, and please don’t take my word as if I’m lying, go and google, research it, find out ‘how drug cartel leaders forfeit money to the US government. They always forfeit it to the IRS. It is not tax. It is drug money. Bola Tinubu is a known drug lord.
“And here is the risk to Nigerians of electing a known drug lord; first and foremost, the value of the Naira is going to collapse because no respectable and responsible foreign direct investor or bank will want to deal with Nigeria, if we have a known drug lord as our President.
“Also our green passport is going to be suspect automatically just like what happened in Colombia when you have a known drug lord as your president.
“I have said it, my name is Reno Omokri, Bola Tinubu is a known drug lord. I went to Chicago myself to investigate if it was true because I do not want to accuse an innocent man. That man is a known drug lord and if Nigeria elects him as our President, it is going to make our country vulnerable and we are going to suffer the result of it,” he said.
