Nigerian Twitter has been thrown into a frenzy with a United States District Court judgement from the Northern District of Illinois taking possession of Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s money over his involvement in drug trafficking.
The judgement docketed on July 26, 1993, and certified by Thomas O. Burton, the clerk of the court, indicted Tinubu for heroin trafficking in the state of Illinois through a proxy organisation owned by Adegboyega Mueez Akande and subsequently forfeited the proceeds of the crime to the U.S. government.
The funds, which were held by First Heritage Bank and Citibank in trust for Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), were forfeited to the U.S. government for being proceeds of drug-related offences.
Details from the now-circulated court papers show that Michael J. Shepard, the attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said in 1993 that the court has jurisdiction over the case brought to it by special agent Kevin Moss.
According to the document, the monies held in those forfeited accounts were proceeds from white heroin drug operations operated by Aknade and his partners.
Akande had a strong and well-connected narcotics business, whose proceeds were substantial and kept in the forfeited bank accounts, the document shows.
The affidavit revealed that the defendant’s—Tinubu funds—represented a substantial part of the proceeds from this operation or property involved in money laundering. That Judge Michael believes based on indisputable evidence that the funds belonging to Tinubu stashed in his Citibank and First Heritage Bank accounts were proceeds from Akande and other narcotraffickers’ heroin operations.
The judge concluded that the proceeds be forfeited to the US government.
Below is an excerpt of the court judgement:
