Tinubu Denies Drug Crimes, Certificate Scandal In The U.S

National leader of the All Progressive Congress, APC, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola

Tinubu has denied ever being arrested, questioned or indicted for drug

crimes in the United States of America in the early 1990′s

The former Lagos Governor also denied reports that he never attended the

Chicago State University.
But a document, signed by a former United States Government

Narcotics Attache in its embassy in Nigeria, Andre W. Kellum, said Tinubu

operated an organisation that distributed cocaine.
Kellum said that though Tinubu was not subjected to criminal prosecution,

the fact that he acceded to forfeiting funds to the United States

Government was on its own a conviction.
Tinubu had admitted in court papers that he was involved in laundering

proceeds of drug trafficking in the United States of America and the

proceeds of such illicit drugs or money laundered in the sun of 460,000 US

dollars be forfeited to the United States Government. 



Tinubu, in a statement today said all the allegations are smear campaigns

that have been in the works for years.
The statement reads:
The unfolding smear campaign against former Lagos governor and leader of

the APC, Bola Tinubu, is no surprise. It had been in the works for years

since the Jonathan-led government realized that Tinubu commanded a

powerful political followership. The successful merger and birth of the

APC posed the most potent threat to the PDP and Tinubu an architect of the

merger has become a marked man.
The thought of a Buhari-Tinubu ticket confounds the PDP hierarchy and

their crisis-battered president. That Tinubu might be nominated as General

Buhari's running mate also incenses the small element within the APC who

joined the party not for its progressive vision but to exploit its

platform to press forward their vision of themselves. Having failed at

halting General Buhari's bid, the PDP disinformation machine has thrown

itself into overdrive trying to stymie the selection of Tinubu. Sadly,

some elements within the APC – elevating their personal ambition over

party and national interests — have lent themselves to this endeavor.

During the Nazi takeover of Germany, madman Adolf Hitler became jealous of

those within his own party who showed independent thought and who would

not allow themselves to be bent just so he could satisfy his megalomania.

Outraged, he engineered a purge executing the lot of them. This bloody

scheme became known as the “night of the long knives.” In Nigeria, we have

entered the “season of the wrong knives.”
The recent report on one of the online news websites on the allegations

bordering on his academic qualification is not new. What is new is how

desperate they have become to stir up a new controversy using an old lie.

In the past these allegations were successfully rebutted. Recent attempt

to present them as fresh allegations will not go unchallenged.

The online report, published by Sahara Reporters, claims that Tinubu

withdrew his support for the ACN in the 2011 election due to blackmail by

the president. It is rather odd that this report colors Tinubu as the

villain. If the report were true, he would be a victim. President Jonathan

and his administration would be guilty of the high crime of extortion.

This tiny consideration seemed not to dawn on the authors of this

scurrilous piece; so fixated on stabbing Tinubu, they implicate their own

boss in wrongdoing. So eager to please their master, Jonathan's mindless

men further ensnare him.
If Tinubu had been scared off in 2011, it would make no sense for him to

spearhead the formation of the APC against the same president. If the

president had such control over TInubu why didn't the president use that

leverage earlier to scuttle the APC before it gained a strong position in

the political space? The story makes no logical sense.

The particular accusations in the story further reveal the malice of mind

of those peddling it. They claim Tinubu did not attend Chicago State

University. They cite as their evidence a letter from the US Consulate.

But if you read the letter carefully, the surname stated is “TinubO” not

“TinubU.” If the University did a computer check on that name, the check

would come up empty. The culprits likely misspelled the last name so that

the name search would reveal nothing. This is clever but immoral; it is a

wrong knife.
Meanwhile, Tinubu has genuine documents and pictures showing him as an

award-winning student at the school. Nigeria should be proud that one of

its own graduated an honor student from an American university over thirty

years ago when that was more of a rarity than it is today. Instead, his

detractors want to pretend he never set foot on campus.

As late as August 2012, Tinubu visited the university and was given a

special reception and a tour by the school's president. This would not

have been done for a stranger. It would have been done for a

distinguished alumnus.
After graduation, Tinubu landed jobs with two well established

international companies, one the accounting firm Deloitte and Touche and

the other, ExxonMobil. Such companies investigate an applicant's academic

background. If he had not attended school, these companies would not have

hired him. He would not have excelled in them but he did.

The rumor about drug running is the lowest form of calumny. He has never

been arrested, charged or indicted for any drug-related crime. Had any

such suspicion existed, the American government would not have granted him

political asylum during the Abacha era. Under American law, asylum cannot

attach to anyone who has broken or offended that same law.

Moreover, Tinubu travels frequently to the states. This means he has a

visa. American law prohibits visa issuance to anyone reasonably suspected

of drug dealing, let along being convicted of the same.

If I were Tinubu, I would place a wager with the PDP. He should offer to

fly to America if the PDP would also send Mr. Kashamu. Both can fly to

Chicago. Then he should bet the PDP who would return to Nigeria first. We

all know the answer.
There is a vicious campaign to deter Tinubu from the APC ticket; this

campaign is being run from the PDP's basement. They fear him. They cannot

assail his competence and experience. He has been an able senator and

governor. They cannot assail his commitment to democracy. He has

personally sacrificed more for democracy than all the PDP hierarchy

combined. They fear his ability to campaign, to get out the vote and to

protect that vote, especially in the southwest because they know that is

the pivotal region where the election will likely be won or lost.

These assailants desperately try to scuttle Tinubu's potential candidacy.

In that the truth offers them no solace, they resort to lies. They seek to

ambush the man under cover of innuendo and untruth. But their aim is off

and their knives are wrong. In the end, what they use to injure him will

turn to point against them. Such is the outcome when one engages in

malice.
Thus, they seek to prevent a person who may be controversial yet he is

perhaps Nigeria's most able and versatile politician, strategist and

policy maker. For perhaps the most gifted politician of his time not to

seek national office is a luxury a nation in this dire circumstance can

ill afford. In the end, governance has little to do with religion, region

or rumor. It has to do with vision and competence. The wrong knives will

never be able to cut that truth.
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