*Nigerians won’t be swayed by deliberate lies – APC replies

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked the Economic and Finance Crimes Commission (EFCC), the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the police, Department of State Service (DSS), and Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) to arrest and prosecute Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for alleged graft and drugs related issues.

The opposition party at a press briefing, yesterday, in Abuja by its Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) reiterated its demand for Tinubu to withdraw from the contest.

In a statement jointly signed by Dele Momodu, director, strategic communication; Paul Ibe, media adviser to PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar; Daniel Bwala, campaign spokesperson; Phrank Shaibu, special assistant to Atiku on public communication and Charles Aniagwu, campaign spokesperson and read by Shaibu, the PDP-PCC said there were several allegations against the APC candidate and that it was imperative for the law enforcement agencies to arrest and prosecute Tinubu.

It also called on President Muhammadu Buhari to read “the riots act to agents of the government from interfering with the election. Any effort to intimidate opposition is an effort to interfere with the conduct of a peaceful elections.”

However, the APC Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), dismissed the call for the arrest and prosecution of its principal by the NDLEA, EFCC and other security agencies, as it noted that Nigerians would not be swayed by deliberate falsehoods and lies the PDP PCC keep manufacturing against its candidate to deceive the public.

But the PDP campaign council recalled that on October 25, 2019, two activists, the late Ariyo Dare-Atoye and Deji Adeyanju, wrote a petition to the EFCC “calling for the investigation and prosecution of Tinubu for breaching the Money Laundering Act after publicly admitting to sharing millions of naira on the eve of elections.

“Nigeria is battling many problems at the moment. We have banditry and terrorism ravaging many towns in the north, militants attacking oil facilities and bringing the country’s economy to its knees in the Niger Delta while secessionists are holding the South East to ransom. It will be a huge disaster to add state sponsored drug trafficking into the mix. Court records show that Nigerian drug kingpin, Adegboyega Muiz Akande, ran an elaborate network of heroin traffickers in Chicago, Illinois, in the 1980s.

“This investigation has revealed the identity of other individuals including relatives who have worked for Akande with various duties in the distribution organisation. One of these individuals has been identified by the investigation as Bola Tinubu,” said Kevin Moss, a special agent with the Inland Revenue Service. Court records showed that Akande took Tinubu to First Heritage Bank where he opened an account for himself and his wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, in 1989. Tinubu revealed in documents that he worked with Mobil Nigeria Limited and his salary was $2,400 and he had no other sources of income whatsoever.

“But records from his First Heritage Bank account showed that in 1990, Tinubu deposited $661,000 into his individual money market account and in 1991 deposited $1,216,500 into the same money market account. Mobil representatives told US authorities that even though Tinubu was a treasurer, he had no direct access to the company’s cash and thus could not deposit funds on behalf of the firm. Tinubu, the political Maradona, quickly entered into an agreement with US authorities and forfeited $460,000 in order to avoid jail before running back to Nigeria. But this has not changed the fact that he was in cahoots with drug dealers and was their bagman. Nigerian law is clear. Criminal cases have no statute of limitation and can be re-opened at anytime especially for the sake of national interest. We hereby call on the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to immediately arrest Bola Ahmed Tinubu and prosecute him for drug trafficking.

“Apart from the criminal angle to this call, there is also the national security aspect. The world will recall what happened to Panama when Manuel Noriega, a known drug lord, became president in 1983. During his six-year rule, Panama became a narcos state as Noriega became an ally of the notorious Pablo Escobar’s Medellin cartel. In the unfortunate event of a Bola Tinubu presidency, Nigerians will be plunged into a drug crisis that would make the Colombia situation a child’s play. With easy access to drugs, there will be an increase in violence. Nigerians cannot risk this.

“In fairness to the EFCC, its current Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, while he was the Head of the Lagos office of the EFCC, wrote a letter to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB). In the letter marked CR/3000/EFCC/LS/Vol4/322, dated November 6, 2020 Bawa requested for Tinubu’s asset declaration forms. However, The Guardian newspaper reported that the CCB said it had misplaced the forms. Since Tinubu emerged as the Presidential candidate of the APC, the EFCC has kept mum on the issue while Ariyo who wrote the petition has unfortunately died. We hereby call on the EFCC to provide an update on this matter.”

It added: “Tinubu does not enjoy immunity. We hereby call on the EFCC, the NDLEA, the Nigeria Police Force, the Office of the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation and the Department of State Services to arrest and prosecute him.”

The PDP-PCC, while responding to the decision of the APC to approach the court to demand the prosecution of Atiku for alleged corruption, accused the spokesperson of Tinubu campaign council, Festus Keyamo, of using his office as a cabinet minister to intimidate government agencies.

“For the avoidance of doubt, Waziri Atiku Abubakar is the most investigated former Vice-President in the history of Nigeria. He has been probed both locally and internationally but no dirt can be pinned on him. He also has not been charged for any crime locally or internationally. Even during the last Presidential election, the APC made efforts to ensure that Atiku would not travel to the United States of America but this failed. Curiously, Tinubu himself has not travelled to the United States. One wonders what he is afraid of.”

Dr. Tunde Olusunle, Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to PDP presidential candidate, has also asked Keyamo to resign immediately or risk being known as the poster boy of extreme perfidy.

In a statement in Abuja, he said what was left of Keyamo’s credibility was being effectively eroded by his desperate moves to please his new master by launching puerile tirades at Atiku.

“This same man who told the world that a current APC chieftain killed late Chief Bola Ige, is now busy dining with the same man as they both prosecute the propaganda-laced presidential campaign of their party, the All Progressives Congress, (APC). This same man who went beyond concerns about someone’s involvement with narcotics trade in the United States and told the world that the man had dubious certificates, is now parroting the same man’s new-found saintly attributes.”

The Atiku aide noted that the pecuniary benefits Keyamo is receiving from his newfound principal, had palpably impacted his allegiance to the service of fatherland as a minister.

According to him, it is sad that rather than for the Minister confront the fact of his inability to impact Nigerian lives in the ministerial office where he had been in the past three and half years, he had busy wasting executive time by launching tirades at the presidential candidate of the PDP and the party.

He noted that President Muhammadu Buhari was clairvoyant about Keyamo’s overzealousness when he reassigned him within days of naming him Minister of State for the Ministry of the Niger Delta, to his present schedule.

Olusunle further alleged that Keyamo was abusing the platform of public office to harass, terrorise and intimidate other people unnecessarily, adding that Keyamo’s “busybody meddlesomeness is a product of the almost zero schedule he operates in his ministry.”

Olusunle implored Buhari to sack Keyamo immediately, especially since he had demonstrated that he had merely been occupying space in the name of being a member of the federal executive council, (FEC).

“Can Keyamo tell Nigerians honestly and truthfully, how much value he has added to governance and administration over the past seven and half years of his service except cruising around in a convoy of government sport utility vans and posing a public nuisance with the ever-blaring sirens of his entourage?”

Nevertheless, the APC Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), has dismissed the appeal by the PDP -PCC for the arrest and prosecution of their principal by the NDLEA, EFCC and other security agencies.

In a statement by its spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, the ruling party said: “It is obvious that the PDP and its presidential candidate, Atiku are yet to recover from the bombshell released last week by the APC PCC, which questioned the morality of the candidate to remain in the race, following his own damaging self-confidence….Instead of Atiku to apologise to Nigerians for abusing his office and position of trust in the past, Atiku’s spokesmen continue to dig deeper in the hole they already found themselves by raising many false allegations against our candidate, Tinubu.

“The latest chapter in Atiku and PDP’s comedy, is the rehash of old tales and fables that have no basis in facts and reality against our candidate. Our stand remains that Atiku Abubakar lacks the character to be the president of Nigeria. He is unfit to lead our country because he can be an easy target for compromises that will be against national interest. Atiku in deeds and words has shown that he cannot be trusted to manage the resources of Nigeria. And we believe that the characters who still parade themselves as his spokespersons have lost their minds. This is why they think Nigerians can be swayed by all their deliberate falsehoods and the lies they manufacture everyday against Bola Tinubu to deceive the public, when they should all be remorseful for the legendary corruption of their boss.”