The presiding pastor of Salvation Ministries, Bishop David Ibiyeomie, has subtly likened the outcome of Nigeria’s recent presidential election with the combination of Pablo Escobar and Osama Bin Laden as President and Vice President.
Ibiyeomie in one of his recent sermons in his church headquartered in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, said that any country where a drug baron and a terrorist leader serve as president and vice president is in big trouble.
Pablo Escobar was a notorious Colombian drug trafficker who collaborated with other criminals to form the Medellín cartel in the early 1970s, while Osama Bin Laden was a terrorists’ leader who attacked the World Trade Centre in the US in 2001.
Meanwhile, Ibiyeomie said he was disgusted when he watched a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) defending a drug baron on national television and said that such person’s SANship should be turned to dis-SAN, saying that it has gotten to a point where people know the truth but choose to lie.
In the short video footage of the sermon which has gone viral on the internet, Ibiyeomie said, “Escobar and Osama Bin Laden to rule, some people to rule a country. Escorbar, you know who is Escobar? A drug baron. Heavy drug baron, and Osama Bin Laden was the highest terrorist. That is, two people like to rule in any nation of the world. I don’t know which nation they want to rule but any nation.
“That people who are educated can sit down, I heard a lawyer, a SAN (Senior Advocate of Nigeria) talking on television, I said, is this man okay? I looked at him and I said this man, so you can see truth clearly like this and be talking. I got disgusted. He was defending a drug baron. I said, this man, your SANship should be turned to dis-SAN.
“I got disgusted and said how can you see truth like this and say it is a lie. That is how some countries have turned to, where we cannot tell ourselves the truth.
“I don’t know the nation but you know the nation. Just imagine nation where Escorbar will rule and Osama Bin Laden will be his vice, it will not happen but just have a mental picture of any nation on earth.”
Recall that the “President-elect”, Bola Tinubu was fingered to have been involved in a white heroin trafficking network which operated in Chicago and some parts of Indiana and led by one Adegboyega Mueez Akande between 1988 and 1993.
According to the Verified Complaint for forfeiture in case No. 93 C 4483 Obtained by SaharaReporters and reported in 2008, which was filed on July 26, 1993 before the Hon. Judge Nordberg of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the United States Government urged the Court to order the forfeiture of funds in accounts Nos. 263226700 held by First Heritage Bank in the name of Bola Tinubu, funds in accounts 39483134, 39483396, 4650279566, 00400220, 39936404 and 39936383 held by Citibank N.A in the name of Bola Tinubu and funds in accounts 52050-89451952,52050-89451952, 52050-89451953 held by Citibank in the name of Bola Tinubu because there was probable cause to believe that the funds in Tinubu’s bank accounts represented proceeds of narcotics trafficking or were monies involved in financial transactions in violations of 18 U.S.C, sections 1956 and 1957 and therefore, was forfeitable to the U.S Government.
However, in a tacit defense of the ownership of the funds, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu averred in Court that the funds belonged to himself, his wife, K.O Tinubu and his surrogate mother, Alhaja Mogaji and warranted that they had exclusive right, title and interest to the funds.
In an affidavit sworn to by Kevin Moss, a Special Agent with the United States Internal Revenue Service, criminal investigation division in support of the verified complaint for forfeiture of Bola Tinubu’s moneys held in various Bank accounts, the agent gave a vivid account of how he came to the conclusion that the funds were proceeds of narcotics transaction in violation of the U.S law.
Tinubu’s drug trafficking allegation has remained controversial, especially in 2022 at the build up of the 2023 general elections where Tinubu and the former governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, who had also been accused of having links with terrorists operating in the Northern region of Nigeria, emerged presidential and vice presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress.
They were declared winners of the February 25th presidential election amid rejection, protests and criticisms by many Nigerians and foreign observers.
Tinubu’s camp has however defended his drug trafficking allegation but several Certified True Copy of court documents have been released to back up the allegation.
