The All Progressives Congress (APC) says president-elect Bola Tinubu forfeited the sum of $460,000 to the government of the United States of America in 1993 following a drug trafficking allegation.
Tinubu, who polled a total of 8,794,726 votes to defeat the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) Atiku Abubakar, and Peter Obi of the Labour Party in the February 25 presidential election has been accused of a drug trafficking history.
It is claimed that Tinubu’s decision to turn over his money to the US government after being accused of drug trafficking was proof that he had broken the law to the point where he was ineligible to run for office.
However, the APC denied that Tinubu was found guilty by the US as a result of the forfeiture in legal proceedings it brought to defend its candidate.
The APC informed the Presidential Election Petition Court, sitting in Abuja at the Court of Appeal, that the funds in the aforementioned accounts, which were held by two commercial banks, were the subject of 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 APC told the Tribunal.
