Following recent media reports that the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 general elections, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was convicted of drug-related cases in the United States of America some years ago, a letter issued by the American Embassy in Nigeria debunking the reports has emerged.
The letter, dated February 4, 2003, and addressed to the then Inspector General of Police (IGP), Tafa Balogun, passed through the Administrative Secretary of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Lagos
Part of the letter read: “In relation to your letter dated February 3, 2003, regarding Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a record check of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) National Crime Information Centre (NCIC) was conducted. The results of the checks were negative for any criminal arrest records, wants, or warrants for Bola Ahmed Tinubu (DOB 29 March, 1952). For information of your department, NCIC is a centralized information centre that maintains the records of every criminal arrest and conviction within the United States and its territories.
“If you have any questions regarding these matters, please contact me directly at 1-261-0195, ext. 319 or via facsimile at 1-262-0257”, it stated.
Tinubu also refuted the reports that he was indicted and convicted of drug trafficking in the United States 30 years ago.
Some news platforms had released certified judgment documents of a Chicago District Court indicting and convicting Tinubu of drug dealings and money laundering in 1993.
The judgment was signed by a US Attorney, and an Assistant Attorney, Michael Shepard, and Marsha McClellan respectively.
However, speaking through the spokesman of his campaign team, Bayo Onanuga, the APC presidential candidate has described the documents as a campaign of calumny. In a Facebook post, Onanuga said the claims that Tinubu was a drug baron were erroneous. He also recalled that the US consulate gave Tinubu a clean bill in response to a request by the Legal Attache, Michael H Bonner.
