[News] Tinubu was never indicted over the matter – Sanwo-Olu’s aide defends APC presidential candidate after Bloomberg article alleging that US accused him of laundering proceeds of heroin trafficking

Jubril Gawat, a Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos state on New Media, has defended All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu after a Bloomberg article about him.

Bloomberg had shared an article titled “Graft Allegations Dog Nigeria’s Main Presidential Hopefuls”, centered of Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and BolaTinubu.

In the article, it was stated that Tinubu who is a former Governor of Lagos state, “fought a lawsuit in which the US accused him of laundering proceeds of heroin trafficking and eventually reached a settlement”.

It read;

Front-runner Bola Tinubu, who secured the ruling party’s nomination earlier this month, was being investigated by the country’s anti-corruption agency as recently as last June. Three decades ago he fought a lawsuit in which the US government accused him of laundering the proceeds of heroin trafficking and eventually reached a settlement.

In July 1993, when Tinubu briefly served as a Nigerian senator, the US government filed a forfeiture lawsuit in Chicago against bank accounts in his name, claiming there was “probable cause” to believe they held the proceeds of heroin dealing. The case followed a probe by the Internal Revenue Service and other agencies into a trafficking network involving Nigerian suppliers.

The IRS secured warrants in January 1992 to seize almost $2 million, according to court filings. While living in Chicago between 1989 and 1991, Tinubu had deposited more than $1.8 million into one of the accounts, before transferring large sums to another bank, according to the US government’s complaint. While disputing the US’s reason for targeting the accounts, Tinubu settled in September 1993, agreeing to give up $460,000 to the US government in exchange for the release of the rest of the money. Tinubu wasn’t indicted over the matter.

Gawat who reacted to the article, shared a screenshot of the part which stated that Tinubu was never indicted. He tweeted “Tinubu was never indicted over the matter”.