Victor EzejaAs the issue of Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s alleged involvement in money laundering and drug trafficking continues to dominate the Nigerian media, a Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Otunba Biodun Ajiboye, says seeking to clarify the matter would distract the ruling party at the moment.
Ajiboye, the Assistant Director, APC Presidential Campaign Council, says the party has more important issues to address in this period of electoral campaigns and is not ready to dissipate energy on clarifying the issue of Tinubu’s alleged involvement in money laundering and drug trafficking, which happened in the 1990s.
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The APC chieftain stated this as guest on Arise TV’s News Prime Time Programme.
Ajiboye, who got into a heated argument with the Arise News anchor, Charles Aniagolu, dismissed the allegations, saying they were the work of opposition politicians who are bent on tarnishing the image of the APC presidential candidate ahead of the 2023 elections in the country.
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Reports in recent weeks harped on court documents regarding the United States District Court judgement from the Northern District of Illinois. The Court documents showed evidence that Tinubu forfeited some money in a bank account held in his name.
The said judgment dated July 26, 1993, and certified by Thomas O. Burton, the clerk of the court, reportedly indicted Tinubu of heroin trafficking in the State of Illinois through a proxy organisation owned by Adegboyega Mueez Akande, and consequently ordered the forfeiture of the sum of $460,000 found in his account. The money was reportedly deemed to be proceeds of the alleged illicit business.
This is not the first time the allegation would be raised against Tinubu. It first surfaced in the media during the 2015 general elections, when Tinubu as leader of the APC was supporting the candidacy of Muhammadu Buhari for his first term as president.
Ajiboye, was responding to comments by David Hundeyin, an investigative journalist who claimed that based on FBI and US official court documents on the drug trafficking case there was probable cause to believe that $1.4 million found in Tinubu’s account were proceeds of drug deals. Hundeyin said that, based on that, the former governor of Lagos should step down from the presidential race.
“I shouldn’t have any glorified response to baseless efforts by an inconsequentially young boy (referring to Hundeyin) who possibly doesn’t even know the value of what he is chasing,” Ajiboye stated.
He reminded the TV programme anchor that the drug trafficking case started in 1992 and should have gone stale, just as he wondered why reputable media organisations should be focusing on it.
The APC chieftain claimed that Tinubu’s team had filed a suit against the chairman of Daar Communications, and owner of the African Independent Television, Dr. Raymond Dokpesi for airing a documentary on the alleged scandal and was ordered to tender apology for that.
“This case came up in 1992. From 1992 to now is 30 years. Nobody has gone to court as a result of this, pursuing this matter. The same man you’re talking about has vied for several positions of authority in this country. He was senator in 1992. In 1999, he became a governor. In 1999, there was a man called Gani Fawehinmi, a legal activist. Fawehinmi took on Bola Tinubu on some other issues. If this issue was important, Bola Tinubu would not have been able to complete a term as governor because Gani Fawehimi was on his neck.
“So, in 2015 or so, a media mogul, the chairman of AIT, did a documentary. The element of that documentary from beginning to the end was this matter we are talking about. Tinubu took him to court; the court told him to apologise for seven good days. That was an indictment on his part, and still today, a medium is still celebrating stale information of no consequence. I am shocked; I am not going to be able to discuss it because it’s not important.”
He further argued that if the allegation held water, there would have been opportunities to pursue the case to logical conclusion.
”But there has never been any Nigerian that was so concerned about the matter as to have decided to go to court. So, why are we going to be celebrating this case at this point in time?” he queried.
“I don’t have the energy. I do not expect that we should be talking about a matter considered stale in every respect.”
He insisted that there were more important issues to discuss instead of focusing on the scandal, adding that media platforms should shun negativity and focus on matters of public good.
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When reminded of the need to clarify the issues around the alleged drug and money laundering scandal by Tinubu in respect of his presidential bid, Ajiboye said people should stop dissipating energy on a three decade-old matter.
According to him, some politicians are bringing it up to distract Nigerians.
He added that Tinubu has track records of excellent performance in public office.
Commenting on Tinubu’s verbal slips during campaigns in recent times, he said Tinubu is the most lucid and mentally alert presidential candidate, arguing that people make mistakes while talking in public and the APC presidential flag bearer was not an exception.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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