Politics
Drug Trafficking: Tinubu, Atiku, Peter Obi’s Camp Clash Over $460,000 Forfeiture In US
The political camps of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi are currently picking on each other over alleged drug trafficking involving one of them.
Ahead of the 2023 general elections, a document resurfaced on the internet allegedly linking Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), to a drug dealing syndicate in the United States (US).
It was claimed that to allegedly fend off the criminal case, Tinubu, at the time of the incident, forfeited the sum of $460,000 to the US government.
Naija News understands that the presidential campaign council and support groups of Atiku (PDP) and Obi (LP) have been pointing fingers at the APC’s presidential candidate and former Governor of Lagos State since the drug trafficking document surfaced on the internet.
In defence of his principal, the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council spokesman, Festus Keyamo, had said in a publication and during an interview that the $460,000 was tax deducted from one of the ten accounts linked to Tinubu in the US.
In another publication the last weekend, the Director, Media and Publicity of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Bayo Onanuga, faulted the viral reports, accusing the opposition camps of forging the letterhead of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the signature of its National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, to spread fake news against Tinubu.
Recall that INEC had on Saturday distanced itself from a purported investigation of criminal forfeiture against Tinubu.
The false letter had quoted Okoye saying the electoral body was liaising with the Northern Illinois District Court in the US to establish more facts about the case before taking a decision.
However, Okoye explained in a statement last Saturday that the said statement did not emanate from INEC, noting that it was the handiwork of mischief makers.
We Are Shocked
The APC presidential campaign council said in a statement obtained by Naija News last week that it received with shock the reports by some media organisations that INEC was investigating Tinubu over the alleged drug trafficking case.
It said it would no longer allow the “prevailing recklessness and utter disregard for professional judgment” to continue unchallenged.
It stressed that the document linked to INEC was forged and disseminated by its political rivals to deceive the gullible public that the electoral commission was investigating allegations against Asiwaju Tinubu, hoping that if investigated, the APC presidential candidate would be disqualified from the 2023 race.
“We are not in any way surprised by the antics of the sinking opposition parties. What we found shocking was how quickly some compromised media organisations gulped the falsehood, hook, line and sinker, without attempting to verify,” APC said.
PDP Call Out Tinubu To Respond To Drug Trafficking Allegation
In the build-up of the controversies, the PDP Presidential Campaign Council asked Tinubu over the weekend to come out boldly and defend his reported link to the $460,000 he forfeited to the US.
The nation’s main opposition party charged the APC presidential candidate to stop hiding behind a finger and sending his media aides to attack other Nigerians.
Spokesman of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement on Sunday, said, “Our campaign insists that the burden before Asiwaju Tinubu is to cleanse himself of being linked to illicit funds by a court in the United States rather than searching for scapegoats and pointing the index finger on others whereas the remaining are pointing to his direction.
“Is it not absurd that rather than proving his innocence by personally telling Nigerians the truth about the forfeiture judgment, Asiwaju Tinubu is allowing his aides, who were not principal witnesses in the crime, to issue threats and vituperations on Nigerians?
“This accounts for why the campaign is singing discordant tunes on taxation while Asiwaju Tinubu himself is labouring to dismiss the case as ‘a rumour’. This is very laughable!
“Our campaign wants Asiwaju Tinubu to know that Nigerians are still waiting for him to address the very serious issue of alleged link with narcotics for which a forfeiture judgment was imposed on him.”
Stop Attacking Our Candidate And Face Your Issues – Labour Party To APC
Labour Party again threw another hit at the ruling party, charging it to stop attacking its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and faced the issues before Tinubu, who is faced with accusations.
The Chief spokesperson of the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council, Dr Yunusa Tanko, who interacted with Vanguard Newspaper on Sunday, said it was depressing that a party whose candidate has issues with records has the effrontery to accuse innocent people of doing the same.
He warned the APC Campaign to desist from dragging it into its sinking campaign with baseless allegations.
Yunusa said, “It is on record that our presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, has never falsified any record about his age, his academic credentials, or had cause to deny his place or birth or his parents.
“It is inconceivable for a presidential campaign whose candidate has been unable to come clean about his background to accuse us of conniving with another opposition party to falsify documents.
“Our advice to the APC is for it to face issues and stop diverting attention.”
The opposition parties, especially the PDP, have since charged Tinubu to immediately withdraw from the 2023 presidential race over his alleged involvement in the matter of forfeiture of $460,000 drug money to the US authorities.
The party also urged President Muhammadu Buhari to distance himself from the former Governor of Lagos State over the matter to save his name.
