Another win for Tinubu as court says Obi, LP failed to prove he was convicted in US

The Presidential Election Petitions Court dismissed the petition by Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party that Bola Tinubu was convicted for money laundering in the United States.

According to the court, Peter Obi failed to prove that Bola Tinubu was convicted of the crime.

The five-man panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani ruled that no record of criminal arrest or conviction was established against Tinubu by the petitioners – Obi and the LP.

Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar of the Labour Party and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who came third and second, respectively who are challenging the victory of Bola Tinubu, the then-candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in April urged the court to disqualify Tinubu for his link to drug trafficking in the U.S.

Obi through his lawyers accused Tinubu of operating several bank accounts that helped receive the proceeds of heroin trafficking and also assisted in the crime of money laundering.

The former Anambra governor presented a widely circulated court affidavit from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, claiming that Tinubu was, in fact, the owner of the accounts in question and that, by virtue of ownership of the seized bank accounts, he was, in fact, an accessory to the crime of drug trafficking.

However, the All Progressives Congress (APC), through its team of lawyers insisted that its candidate at the presidential election was not indicted in any drug-related offenses, resulting in a forfeiture of $460,000 to the United States government in 1993.

The team, which was led by Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), had in the defense of its principal, Tinubu, refuted the claim by Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, that his principal was indeed convicted by virtue of the seized funds.

NBA