In the lead-up to the 2023 general election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and his counterpart from the Labour Party, Peter Obi, are raising concerns over President Bola Tinubu’s efforts to prevent the release of his personal files by United States intelligence agencies.
Tinubu’s Bid to Block Release of Documents During the week, reports emerged indicating that President Tinubu had taken steps to block six U.S. government intelligence agencies from disclosing documents related to a 1993 Illinois court judgment. In this judgment, Tinubu forfeited $460,000 from two of his bank accounts.
The forfeiture was linked to an investigation that allegedly tied funds in Tinubu’s bank accounts to the proceeds from heroin trafficking involving individuals named Adegboyega Akande and Abiodun Agbele.One of Atiku’s aides, Dr. Don Pedro Obaseki, who previously served as Director of Research, Strategy, and Documentation in the PDP Presidential Campaign, expressed surprise at President Tinubu’s attempt to halt the release of these documents.
Obaseki questioned Tinubu’s motives, stating, “What is he afraid of? The guiltless fears no accusation. We don’t even know what they want to release, and he wants to stop them from releasing what they want to release.
Peter Obi, the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general elections, also weighed in on the matter. Speaking on behalf of Obi, Mr. Diran Onifade, Head of Media for the Obi-Datti Campaign Council, stated that Tinubu has a history of exploiting legal loopholes to his advantage. Onifade remarked, “What do you expect to happen? It is a dispensation that relies heavily on lawyers. We had an election, his victory relied heavily on the antics of lawyers.”Obi’s campaign representative went on to say, “We went to the tribunal, and it was the most wanton display of the antics of lawyers. So, it just speaks more into the style of the person we are talking about. He will always use lawyers.
He survives by lawyers, by exploiting the loopholes of the law rather than just straight complying with the law. He is someone who believes so much in exploiting the law’s loopholes, and he pays lawyers heavily to do that for him.”The All Progressives Congress (APC) stated that it would provide a reaction at the appropriate time.
