Following the petition by the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the just concluded Nigerian General elections, Mr Peter Obi challenging the declaration of the All Progressives Congress APC Candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu as President-elect by the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, the All Progressives Congress, APC, has opened up on circumstances that led Tinubu to forfeit the sum of $460,000 to the government of the United States of America, USA, in 1993.
The ruling party, in processes it filed to defend the outcome of the election that was held on February 25, maintained that Tinubu, merely surrendered funds in 10 bank accounts that were opened in either his name or that of Compass Finance and Investment Co.
It told the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, PEPT, sitting at the Court of Appeal in Abuja, that funds in the said accounts, which were domiciled in both First Heritage Bank and Citi Bank N. A, were subject to a “civil forfeiture proceeding” in Case No: 93C4483.
According to the APC, the purported decision of the United State District Court Northern District of Illinois, Eastern division in the said case, was not a fine but a decree of forfeiture of the amount of $460,000 to the United State pursuant to the settlement of claim by the parties to the case.
“The said decision is not against the 2nd Respondent (Tinubu) but against the funds in the various account opened in the name of Bola Tinubu with First Heritage Bank and City Bank N.A.
“The compromise terms that led to the forfeiture were preceded by express admission on record that the 2nd Respondent did not admit the commission of any drug, drug-related or illicit conduct of dishonesty or fraud that fits into any of the grounds of disqualification to contest for office of president of Nigeria at the 25th February, 2023 general election,” APC insisted.
It listed the 10 account numbers that contained funds that Tinubu forfeited after the settlement of claim by parties involved in the case, as: 263226700, 39483134, 39483396, 4650279566, 00400220, 39936404, 39936383, 52050-89451952, 52050-89451952 and 52050-89451953.
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