The Independent National Electoral Commission has debunked the reports making the rounds that INEC has commenced an investigation into a criminal case against the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, ahead of the 2023 general election.
INEC said it was not liaising with a court in the United States over Tinubu’s alleged connection to a drug trafficking case in the country.
It would be recalled that the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois recently released a document over his connection to drug trafficking.
The document contained evidence of Tinubu’s alleged involvement in narcotics and money laundering about 30 years ago.
The matter allegedly led to Tinubu’s forfeiture of $460,000 in one of the accounts linked to the APC presidential candidate.
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Speaking on the development, the spokesperson of the APC Presidential Campaign Council and Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, said Tinubu was not indicted in the matter and had no case to answer.
However, INEC, in a statement issued on Saturday by the commission’s National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, said a press release purported to have been issued by the electoral umpire on commencing an investigation into the case did not emanate from INEC.
“It claims that the Commission has commenced investigation into a case of criminal forfeiture against one of the presidential candidates in the forthcoming general election and is liaising with a court in the United States of America in pursuit of same to determine possible violation of our guidelines or the Electoral Act 2022.
“We wish to state categorically that the said Press Release did not emanate from the Commission nor is it pursuing the purported course of action. It is the handiwork of mischief makers and utterly fake.
“Press Releases from the Commission are uploaded to the INEC Press Corps platform and simultaneously disseminated through our website and official social media handles.
“The public is advised to ignore the Press Release,” Okoye stated.
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