Arrest, Prosecute Tinubu – PDP Directs EFCC, NDLEA, Police, DSS, AGF

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Council has called for the immediate arrest and prosecution of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The PDP Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), at a press conference on Sunday, urged the Economic and Finance Crimes Commission (EFCC), the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the police, the Department of State Service (DSS), and Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) to arrest the former Lagos State governor for alleged graft and drugs related issues.

The statement to journalists was jointly signed by Dele Momodu, director, strategic communication; Paul Ibe, media adviser to PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar; Daniel Bwala, campaign spokesperson; Phrank Shaibu, special assistant to Atiku on public communication and Charles Aniagwu, campaign spokesperson, Naija News reports.

Shaibu, who read the statement at the press briefing, stated that any effort to intimidate the opposition is an effort to interfere with the conduct of a peaceful election.

The PDP-PCC said there were several allegations against the APC candidate and that it was imperative for law enforcement agencies to arrest and prosecute Tinubu.

It recalled that on October 25, 2019, two activists, the late Ariyo Dare-Atoye and Deji Adeyanju, wrote a petition to the EFCC “calling for the investigation and prosecution of Tinubu for breaching the Money Laundering Act after publicly admitting to sharing millions of naira on the eve of elections.”

The PDP-PCC said: “Nigeria is battling many problems at the moment. We have banditry and terrorism ravaging many towns in the north, militants attacking oil facilities and bringing the country’s economy to its knees in the Niger Delta while secessionists are holding the South East to ransom. It will be a huge disaster to add state sponsored drug trafficking into the mix. Court records show that Nigerian drug kingpin, Adegboyega Muiz Akande, ran an elaborate network of heroin traffickers in Chicago, Illinois, in the 1980s.

“This investigation has revealed the identity of other individuals including relatives who have worked for Akande with various duties in the distribution organisation. One of these individuals has been identified by the investigation as Bola Tinubu, said Kevin Moss, a special agent with the Inland Revenue Service. Court records showed that Akande took Tinubu to First Heritage Bank where he opened an account for himself and his wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, in 1989. Tinubu revealed in documents that he worked with Mobil Nigeria Limited and his salary was $2,400 and he had no other sources of income whatsoever.

“But records from his First Heritage Bank account showed that in 1990, Tinubu deposited $661,000 into his individual money market account and in 1991 deposited $1,216,500 into the same money market account. Mobil representatives told US authorities that even though Tinubu was a treasurer, he had no direct access to the company’s cash and thus could not deposit funds on behalf of the firm. Tinubu, the political Maradona, quickly entered into an agreement with US authorities and forfeited $460,000 in order to avoid jail before running back to Nigeria. But this has not changed the fact that he was in cahoots with drug dealers and was their bagman. Nigerian law is clear. Criminal cases have no statute of limitation and can be re-opened at anytime especially for the sake of national interest. We hereby call on the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to immediately arrest Bola Ahmed Tinubu and prosecute him for drug trafficking.

“Apart from the criminal angle to this call, there is also the national security aspect. The world will recall what happened to Panama when Manuel Noriega, a known drug lord, became president in 1983. During his six-year rule, Panama became a narcos state as Noriega became an ally of the notorious Pablo Escobar’s Medellin cartel. In the unfortunate event of a Bola Tinubu presidency, Nigerians will be plunged into a drug crisis that would make the Colombia situation a child’s play. With easy access to drugs, there will be an increase in violence. Nigerians cannot risk this.

“In fairness to the EFCC, its current Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, while he was the Head of the Lagos office of the EFCC, wrote a letter to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB). In the letter marked CR/3000/EFCC/LS/Vol4/322, dated November 6, 2020 Bawa requested for Tinubu’s asset declaration forms. However, The Guardian newspaper reported that the CCB said it had misplaced the forms. Since Tinubu emerged as the Presidential candidate of the APC, the EFCC has kept mum on the issue while Ariyo who wrote the petition has unfortunately died. We hereby call on the EFCC to provide an update on this matter.

“Tinubu does not enjoy immunity. We hereby call on the EFCC, the NDLEA, the Nigeria Police Force, the Office of the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation and the Department of State Services to arrest and prosecute him.”