The All Progressives Congress (APC) says the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, forfeited $460,000 to the United States government in 1993 over a drug trafficking allegation.
The APC said this at the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja while defending Tinubu, the APC presidential candidate in the just-concluded election, against the claim that the former governor of Lagos State was convicted by the US over the forfeiture.
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, had challenged the emergence of Tinubu as President-elect in the February 25, 2023, election, noting that the former governor’s forfeiture of his funds to the US government over a drug trafficking allegation was an indication that he engaged in infractions that were enough to disqualify him from contesting an election.
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However, the APC, in the processes it filed to defend Tinubu, informed the tribunal that funds in the said accounts, which were domiciled in two commercial banks, were subject to a “civil forfeiture proceeding” in Case No: 93C4483.
“The said decision is not against the 2nd Respondent (Tinubu) but against the funds in the various account opened in the name of Bola Tinubu with First Heritage Bank and City Bank N.A.
“The compromise terms that led to the forfeiture were preceded by express admission on record that the 2nd Respondent (Tinubu) did not admit the commission of any drug, drug-related or illicit conduct of dishonesty or fraud that fits into any of the grounds of disqualification to contest for the office of president of Nigeria at the February 25, 2023, general election,” the ruling party stated.
