A former Special Agent of the United States of America, USA’s Federal Bureau of investigation, FBI, Akib Abiola, and also a close associate of the presumed winner of the annulled 1993 presidential election, late Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, has debunked all the drug-related allegations levelled against the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
In a video which had gone viral, Abiola, who it was learnt facilitated the USA asylum for Tinubu with the US Department of State in 1994, stated that all the reports about Tinubu’s involvement in drugs and money laundering in the US are “pure nonsense with no iota of truth.”
Noting that that he worked for a US intelligence agency in Washington DC and was also a Special Agent for the FBI, which enabled him to facilitate Tinubu’s asylum, Abiola stated that he assisted the FBI in establishing its offices in Nigeria, revealing that due to his position at the time, he was able to help several Nigerians, who left the country because of the political crisis.
He added that the prevailing political crisis then enabled him to obtain entry visas for some of the political actors of the time, while he helped others with asylum visas.
He described that political period as “a very dark period in the history of Nigeria.”
He stated further that he met with a colleague, Ed Akins, who was the desk head of her office for Nigeria at that time.
He added that during Tinubu’s case, Akins dictated a letter to him and asked him to put it on his organisation’s letterhead.
He said that his organisation at the time was Nigeria Democratic Movement, NDM, which he was one of the founding members.
He stated the Akins directed him to fax the letter to the Ambassador in United Kingdom and sent a copy to Tinubu.
He noted that Akins called the US Ambassador in the UK and made an appointment for the next day, then she called Tinubu, which he honoured.
Abiola stated that Tinubu is dedicated to democracy as one of the leaders of National Democratic Coalition, NADECO, noting that most politicians in London at that time always had meetings in the midnight.
He said emphatically that there was no information of any kind in Tinubu’s file in the US’ Department of State about drugs or money laundering.
Noting that “no warrant has ever been issued against the former two-term governor of Lagos State,” Abiola added that he has never been arrested for drugs or money laundering.
He added further that Tinubu has never been charged, prosecuted or convicted for drugs and money laundering in the US or anywhere in the world.
He noted that the US will not give an asylum visa to anyone who has or has had drug or money laundering charges against them.
Insisting that he had known Tinubu for almost 40 years, Abiola revealed that they were both with the late Abiola, who won the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election when he emerged the candidate of the defunct Social Democratic Party, SDP, at its National Convention in Jos, the Plateau State capital, in 1993.
He noted that he came back to Nigeria with Tinubu to fight for Abiola’s mandate.
The former special agent of the FBI added that every information he gave can be verified in the US’ Department of State and the US Embassy in the UK.
He concluded that he is willing to make the statement under oath.
Recall that in November 2022, some certified judgment documents, released by the Chicago, US court, where Tinubu was said to have been indicted of drug dealings and money laundering in 1993, made the rounds on the internet.
The certified court documents indicated that Tinubu was a drug lord, who entered a plea bargain in which he voluntarily agreed to forfeit his assets to American authorities in 1993 instead of going to trial.
Reacting to the circulation of the documents, the spokesman of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, PCP, Bayo Onanuga, described the documents in circulation as a “campaign of calumny,” adding, “The muckrakers are back in business.”
