Claims of investigating US criminal forfeiture against Tinubu is utterly fake – INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that it is not investigating a United States government’s criminal forfeiture case against Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Shortly after a United States District Court in the Northern District of Illinois released certified true copies of the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s drug trafficking and money laundering case in Chicago, a letter claiming that INEC is investigating the case also surfaced.

The certified true copies released by the court also revealed that the former Lagos state Governor forfeited the proceeds of the crime to the U.S. government. The money ($460,000), which was held by First Heritage Bank and Citibank in trust for Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), was forfeited to the U.S. government for being proceeds of drug-related offences.

Festus Okoye, Chairman of INEC information and voter education committee who reacted to claim of the commission investigating the criminal forfeiture case via a statement released on Saturday, November 12, stated that the letter did not emanate from the electoral umpire and claims made in it are utterly fake.

The statement read;

“A Press Release purported to have been issued by the Commission has been trending online since yesterday Friday 11th November 2022.

“It claims that the Commission has commenced investigation into a case of criminal forfeiture against one of the Presidential candidates in the forthcoming General Election and is liaising with a Court in the United States of America in pursuit of same to determine possible violation of our guidelines or the Electoral Act 2022.

“We wish to state categorically that the said Press Release did not emanate from the Commission nor is it pursuing the purported course of action. It is the handiwork of mischief makers and utterly fake.

“Press Releases from the Commission are uploaded to the INEC Press Corps platform and simultaneously disseminated through our website and official social media handles.

“The public is advised to ignore the press release.”