Investigative journalist David Hundeyin says his decision to bring to the limelight, the alleged forfeiture of money and offences bordering on narcotics by Bola Ahmed Tinubu is because he wants Nigerians to know Tinubu’s background. Tinubu is the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) for the 2023 general election.
Hundeyin stated this Tuesday in an interview with Arise TV. The journalist talked about his recent publication ‘Bola Ahmed Tinubu: From Drug Lord To Presidential Candidate’.
The United State District Court for the Northern District of Illinois last week released fresh documents detailing Tinubu’s encounter with American authorities, over allegations of narcotics trafficking and money laundering.
The US court records showed that the former governor of Lagos State had forfeited up to $460,000 to the United States authorities in plea bargaining.
The issue had generated mixed reactions in recent days, but the 56-paged document released by the district court headquartered in Chicago did not include crucial new details but was just part of the matter that had been in the media and public domain for more than two decades now.
Hundeyin reignited interest in the issue in a July 13 article in West Africa Weekly. Speaking during the interview, the investigative journalist said it is clear from the documents where the fund came from, wondering why Tinubu was investing in real estate at the time the accounts was been frozen by the United States government.
“It is to speak to the electorates that they should be informed about the character of the person who wants to be president of Nigeria. I would not be doing my job, If I know someone who was in drug related issue that wants to be president and I don’t talk,” Hundeyin said.
“It is difficult to know the amount of damage this would be doing to us. There is a visa ban for Nigerians from UAE now.”
He further urged Nigerians to read the documents and arrive at a conclusion on the character of Tinubu and decide if he was capable of leading the country.
He stressed that he was aware that the issue would not be taken up nor investigated by authorities in Nigeria and the judiciary, alleging that the document was clear that funds coming into Tinubu’s account at that point came from people with questionable means of livelihood.
Hundeyin also revealed that he was backing the presidential bid of Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate for the 2023 general election.
“I am supporting Peter Obi and I have no apology for that”, he said.
Read also: Tinubu’s $460,000 forfeiture: PDP mulls legal action
After the release of the document by the United State District Court for the Northern District of Illinois last week, some media organisations reported that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was investigating Tinubu over alleged criminal forfeiture of money on offenses bordering on narcotics and illicit drugs.
Subsequently, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) sanctioned two broadcast media outfits for airing fake reports about the APC presidential candidate.
This was after INEC at the weekend denied the statement on which the report was based.
Reacting to the circulation of the documents last week, the spokesman of the APC presidential campaign, Bayo Onanuga, described the documents in circulation as a campaign of calumny.
Onanuga noted that Tinubu was cleared of the allegations, adding that the report was not true.
Onanuga on his Facebook page wrote, “The Muckrakers back in business.
“The Tinubu traducers on Tuesday returned to their usual campaign of calumny, this time waking up the carcass of a drug allegation in America that was buried in 1993.
“Long after the campaign failed in 2003, it resurfaced weeks to the primary election of the All Progressives Congress. The opponents thought it was lethal enough to make the APC disqualify Tinubu from the race.
“It failed spectacularly and Tinubu went on to win the primary with a landslide. The muckrakers are back again with the same story, dressed as ‘certified true copy’ from the U.S. Court.
“One of the unconscionable and wicked lies peddled by political opponents about Bola Ahmed Tinubu was to paint him erroneously as a drug baron.
“The accusation arose out of an investigation by FBI agent Kevin Moss of Tinubu and Compass Investment and Finance accounts at First Heritage Bank and Citi- Bank in the U.S.
“On January 10, 1992, Kevin Moss requested and obtained a court order to freeze the accounts.
“On January 13, 1992, Moss telephoned Tinubu in Nigeria to justify the amounts in the accounts, running into $1.4 million. Part of the money was said to have been deposited by two Nigerians, being investigated for drug offenses.
“After the telephone conversation, Tinubu instructed his lawyer in the US to file lawsuit against the order freezing his accounts.
“This dragged on till 15 September 1993, when an agreement was reached for an out-of-court settlement. Judge John A Nordberg, of the US district court for the Northern District of Illinois, read out the agreement reached by the two parties. Part of the funds, $460,000 was seized by the government.
“The FBI never charged Tinubu with any drug offence; the case did not go on trial. Tinubu was never convicted. And he was never barred from entering the United States.
“In 2003, ten years after, when the PDP opponents wanted to use the shuttered allegation to disqualify Tinubu from running for a second term in Lagos, the Inspector General of Police, Tafa Balogun made an enquiry with the American Consulate on Tinubu’s status.
“The Consulate gave Tinubu a clean bill in a reply by the Legal Attache, Michael H. Bonner.
“The letter read: “Our sincerest greetings to you and all of the law enforcement personnel in the Nigeria Police Force, whose continued assistance is very much appreciated.
“In relation to your letter, dated February 3, 2003, reference number SR. 3000/IGPSEC/ABJ/VOL. 24/287, regarding Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a records check of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) National Crime Information Centre (NCIC) was conducted.
“The results of the checks were negative for any criminal arrest records, wants or warrants for Bola Ahmed Tinubu (DOB 29 March 1952).
“For information of your department, NCIC is a very centralised information centre that maintains the records of every criminal arrest and conviction within the United States and its territories.
“Almost thirty years after the allegation was discharged and the case declared dead, Tinubu’s opponents keep waking up its corpse, in futile efforts to malign him.”
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