US Heroin Case Against Tinubu, What Happened- Onanuga, Keyamo

The spokesmen for the All Progressives Congress (APC) Tinubu/Shettima campaign organization, Bayo Onanuga and Festus Keyamo have cleared the air on what happened in the heroin case alleged to have been committed by Bola Tinubu.

 

Newsonline reports that Onanuga and Keyamo said the story was a handwork of mischief makers, describing the story ‘as dead as a dodo’.

 

In a media briefing on Tuesday, Bayo Onanuga said, “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, Mr Kevin Moss requested and obtained a court order to freeze the accounts. On January 13, 1992, Mr 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 offences.

 

READ ALSO: Atiku, Sowore React To US Court Docs Indicting Tinubu For Drug Trafficking

 

“After the telephone conversation, Tinubu instructed his lawyer in the US to file a 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 statement further added, “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.”

 

Keyamo Challenges Mainstream media on the Tinubu Drug Story

 

Chief spokesman of the APC presidential campaign organization, Festus Keyamo challenged the mainstream media on the alleged story of Tinubu’s heroin involvement.

 

In a series of tweets on his Twitter handle, Keyamo said the opposition carrying the story was frustrated with the success of Tinubu’s campaign.

 

“Sign of frustration: They are seeking to wake a horse long dead and buried and for which a media house publicly apologized in 2016 when they tried to use the story,” Keyamo said.

 

He added, “Simply ask yourself why no mainstream media, both locally and internationally has posted their fake ‘drug’ story as ‘breaking news’ except these usual junk sites. Simple reason: those who tried it before were taken to court and they publicly apologized. An old, fake, recycled story!”