A former member of the House of Representatives and Nigerian-US attorney, Kayode Oladele, has issued a stinging rebuke to opposition leaders pursuing legal remedies against President Bola Tinubu in the United States, declaring that no amount of document hunting in American courts can manufacture a criminal conviction where none exists.

In a statement released on Friday, September 4, 2026, Oladele who practises as a federal lawyer in the United States, said he had personally examined available federal court records and found no evidence that Tinubu was ever criminally charged, prosecuted or convicted of any offence in the US.

"As a federal lawyer practising in the United States, I have examined available federal court records and have not found any court record showing that President Tinubu was ever criminally charged, prosecuted or convicted of any offence in the United States.

"I really don't know who their lawyers are or what legal advice they are receiving, but there should be an end to this legal tourism against President Tinubu. You cannot manufacture a criminal conviction where none exists," he said.

The former Chairman of the House Committee on Financial Crimes took direct aim at the repeated attempts by Tinubu's opponents to frame the President's 1993 civil forfeiture proceedings in the United States as evidence of a criminal conviction, describing the argument as legally flawed and politically embarrassing.

"The 1993 case repeatedly cited by Tinubu's opponents was a civil forfeiture proceeding against property and not a criminal prosecution or conviction of the President. An allegation is not a conviction. An investigation is not a conviction. A civil forfeiture proceeding is not, by itself, a criminal conviction. These are elementary distinctions in law," he said.

Oladele challenged opposition figures to produce concrete evidence of any criminal proceedings if they genuinely believed one existed.

"Where is the indictment? Where is the criminal charge? Where was Tinubu arraigned? Where is the judgment convicting him of drug trafficking or any other criminal offence? There is none," he said.

He described the recurring pattern of opposition figures travelling to the United States every election cycle in search of damaging documents as a wild goose chase that risked turning those behind it into laughingstocks.

"Every election cycle, we seem to return to the same journey to America in search of an imaginary criminal conviction against Tinubu. American courts cannot manufacture a criminal conviction for the convenience of Nigerian politics. If there was no criminal trial and no conviction, no amount of document hunting can retrospectively create one," he said.

Oladele noted that the forfeiture issue had already featured in legal challenges arising from the 2023 presidential election without resulting in Tinubu's disqualification, suggesting the opposition was repeating a strategy that had already failed.

Turning to the substance of the political contest ahead, the former lawmaker urged Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi to redirect their energy toward policy and performance rather than legal shortcuts.

"Atiku and Obi have every constitutional right to challenge President Tinubu, but let that challenge be based on competing ideas and programmes. If they believe they can govern Nigeria better, let them tell Nigerians how. Let them challenge Tinubu on his policies, programmes and performance and allow the electorate to decide," he said.

He ended with a direct and pointed message to both opposition leaders.

"My advice to Atiku and Obi is simple: end the legal tourism and face the issues. Come home and engage President Tinubu politically. The road to Aso Rock runs through the Nigerian electorate, not through American courthouses," he said.

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