A crucial witness has tendered evidence about the alleged forfeiture of $460,000 by a former governor of Lagos State and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The witness presented a US court verdict before the Lagos State Election Petitions Tribunal, which is currently investigating the March 2019 gubernatorial election in Nigeria’s commercial capital.
During the proceedings on Monday, Yinka Odumakin, a political activist, who was also the spokesman of the Afenifere, a pan-Yoruba group, testified before the tribunal. The witness tendered the verdict given by Judge Stanwood Duval Jr. of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in the case of the United States v. Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, No. 02-PC-1973, on June 17, 2004.
According to the document submitted, the US government initiated a legal process against Tinubu in 2003, shortly after he completed his tenure as the governor of Lagos State. The document stated that the US government made a strong case that Tinubu violated several sections of the American law, including money laundering and racketeering. The government accused the politician of concealing the proceeds of an illegal drug trade conducted by some of his associates, who were based in the US.
Tinubu was said to have maintained multiple offshore bank accounts, which were used to negotiate illegal transactions and launder the proceeds of criminal activities. The case was eventually settled out of court, and Tinubu agreed to forfeit the sum of $460,000 to the US government.
The tribunal admitted the document tendered by Odumakin as evidence and marked it as Exhibit P.61. However, the defence counsel, led by Mr Tunde Busari, tried to object to the admissibility of the verdict, claiming that it was not obtained through due process.
The lead counsel for the petitioner, Mr Tayo Oyetibo, responded by arguing that the defence had not provided any evidence to back their claims. He noted that the verdict had been authenticated by a notary public, which satisfied the requirement of admissibility.
The tribunal adjourned the hearing to June 18 for further cross-examination of the witness, as the petitioner seeks to prove that the declared winner of the Lagos gubernatorial election, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, was not duly elected and that there were irregularities during the election.
