Nairaland Forum

Facts have emerged that the erstwhile Governor of Lagos state, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu may 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. The source of the white heroine was identified as one Mr. Lee Andrew Edwards who was incarcerated for attempting to murder a federal agent while the agent was executing a search warrant on him.

According to the Verified Complaint for forfeiture in case No. 93 C 4483 Obtained by SaharaReporters, 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 US.C, sections 1956 and 1957 and therefore, was forfeitable to the US Government.

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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 US law.

Mr. Moss averred that prior to and during 1988; the government became involved in the investigation of a white heroin trafficking network operating in Chicago, Illinois and Hammond, Indiana. The investigation disclosed that an individual known as Lee Andrew Edwards was a source of white heroin. The government sources provided information about Lee Andrew Edwards including the identity of a telephone number which activated in electronic pager. This pager according to him was to be called to place an order for white heroin. According to Mr. Moss, this pager was subscribed to by one Adegboyega Mueez Akande who at that time was a resident of Chicago.

Mr. Moss further averred that during February 1988, an individual named Abiodun Agbele arrived in the US from Nigeria and during investigation by the government, Agbele disclosed that Akande was his uncle who provided him an apartment in Hammond, Indiana.

According to Agbele, Mr. Akande returned to Nigeria in1990; however, before he left, he instructed Agbale to serve as a source of white heroin for Mr. Lee Andrew Edwards as a result of which Agbele sold white heroin for Lee Andrew Edwards on numerous occasions. Following a tip off, Agbele sold one ounce of white heroin to a law enforcement agent undercover on November 28, 1990 for $7,000 and was subsequently arrested. After his arrest, Agbele agreed to cooperate with the law enforcement agents regarding the white heroin distribution and network of Akande.

According to Agbele, Akande controlled the operation of white heroin from Nigeria in conjunction with other individuals in Nigeria and the US. One other individual who worked with Akande according to the affidavit was identified as Bola Tinubu who later became the governor of Lagos state from 1999 to 2007.

The investigation also revealed that in December 1989, Akande took Bola Tinubu to First Heritage bank where Bola Tinubu opened an individual money market. In the account opening application, Tinubu, gave his address as 7504 South Stewart, Chicago, the same address used previously by Akande and his company, Globe-Link. This is the same address used as the drop-off point for packages from Nigeria that contained the white heroin. According to bank records, Bola Tinubu also opened a joint checking account in his name and the name of his wife, Oluremi Tinubu. Mrs. Tinubu had previously opened a joint Bank account also in the same bank with Abdrey Akande, the wife of the heroin kingpin, Adegboyega Mueez Akande.

Upon opening the account, Tinubu deposited the sum of $1,000 in traveler's check. However, five days after opening the account, specifically, on January 4, 1990, Tinubu deposited the sum of $80,000 into the account.

According to the federal agent, in a credit application dated January 6, 1990, Bola Tinubu disclosed that he resided at 7504 South Stewart and that Mueez A. Akande was his cousin. Tinubu further stated that he was an employee of Mobil Oil Nigeria Limited, Fairfax, Virginia and his take home pay was $2,400 per month. Additionally, Tinubu stated on the application that he had no other sources of income and listed his wife, Oluremi Tinubu as co-applicant for the application for automobile loan. The loan was secured with the certificate of deposit in the amount of $10,000 which Tinubu had purchased with a withdrawal from the $80,000 deposit in his checking account.

According to the federal agent, Bank records from First heritage Bank disclosed that in 1990 alone, Bola Tinubu deposited $661,000 into his individual money market account and in 1993; he deposited the sum of $1,216,500 into the same money market account. The agent further avers that in 1991, Tinubu began opening accounts at Citibank in the section known as the world-wide personal banking unit where he transferred the sum of $560,000 from his money market account at the First Heritage Bank.

This development prompted the Federal agents to interview representatives from Mobil Oil regarding Tinubu's employment status and his take-home pay. The Mobil Oil representatives confirmed to the investigators that Tinubu was employed by the Mobil Oil as a treasurer. Mobil Oil further told the federal agents that this position did not involve the transfer of large amounts of money between banking institutions. Mobil oil representatives also stated that under no circumstance would Tinubu be permitted to retain money belonging to Mobil Oil in accounts bearing Tinubu's name. Finally, Mobil Oil confirmed that the corporation never had any accounts in banks in the southern suburbs of Chicago.

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On January 10, 1992, the federal agents obtained a court Order freezing Tinubu's accounts at First Heritage Bank and Citibank respectively. Thereafter, Tinubu contacted the First Heritage Bank to transfer money from his accounts and was advised that the accounts had been seized by the US Treasury.

On January 13, 1992, Mr. Moss, the Federal agent contacted Bola Tinubu in Nigeria by phone using a number provided to the First Heritage Bank by Tinubu himself. Mr. Moss averred that during the course of the interview, Bola Tinubu confirmed that he knew Mueez Adegboyega Akande. Tinubu further admitted during the interview with the federal agent that he had wire transferred $100,000 to Akande's bank account in Houston and that the $80,000.00 of the funds used to open the account at First Heritage Bank had come from Akande. Tinubu further admitted that he had other accounts in Fairfax, Virginia and London.

Concluding his affidavit evidence, Mr. Moss stated that with all these evidence, there was probable cause to believe that the funds in the accounts held by First Heritage Bank and Citibank, N.A in the name of Bola Tinubu represented property that was involved in narcotics transaction in violation of the US law. He therefore, urged the Court to issue an order of forfeiture of the funds.

After a protracted litigation in which Bola Tinubu claimed that the monies legitimately belonged to him, his wife, Oluremi Tinubu and his surrogate mother, one Alhaja Mogaji, Bola Tinubu finally opted for a stipulated settlement with the US government. According to the settlement Order dated September 15, 1993; Hon. Judge John A Nordberg ordered that the sum of $460,000 held by Bola Tinubu in The First Heritage Bank account be forfeited to the United States Government. The Court also ordered the release of the funds held in the Citibank account and any money held in excess of $460,000 at the First Heritage account to Bola Tinubu in line with the agreement and stipulation reached by Tinubu with the federal agents.

Ironically, this case came up at the peak of the struggle against the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election by the Gen. Babagida-led military junta during which time Tinubu as a member and one of the leading financiers of the National democratic Coalition (NADECO) made several "pro-democracy" trips to the US ostensibly to press for US sanctions against the Nigerian junta. It is therefore doubtful whether most of those trips were actually connected with the June 12, struggle after all.

Nawa oooo - Nigeria and our leaders sha, u remember Dele Giwa Saga and Babangida

Nigeria is hijacked nation.

@post

Jumping to conclusion on a case like this is not an inherent trait of an enlightened mind. There was no case against him, and if there was any at the time the prosecutor can not prove it. hence the two parties opted for Settlement. And the fact that he travelled to US severally during June 12 crisis does not mean he was trafficking drugs, if you were in Lagos during June 12 crisis, you would ve known that every pro-democracy group member then was target of assassin bullet.

@ poster
where the source?

its not true.

Big lie.

His enemies are at work again.

America needs to investigate it's own officials for criminality, before they look at ours.

Yankee needs to mind their own.

Amebos.

Unconfirmed source

@poster
why dont you tell them, He copied and pasted it from www.saharareporters.com.

No be joke Oh.

are you sure.

The references for the case are public records in the US and can easily be verified.
The case proved that Tinubu got money from a drug barron, and doesn't specify his level of involvement in the actual trafficking.

I wonder why everybody is so quick to dismiss the reports.
Can Bola Tinubu not be a drug dealer? Because he's a politician?
I know the Americans can't just cook up stories against him. They have nothing to gain/lose if he goes down.

I always knew Tinubu was dodgy!

Sahara Reporters are not a CREDIBLE SOURCE of any form of real news, pls stop using them as a source. They are only interested in propaganda and making up stories or assuming information on Nigeria.

it is so untrue. he traveeled to the US at the time mainly because his family were based there. get ur facts right. he is one of the most honourable Nigerians. Kudos to him and his lineage for all they have done for Nigeria, right from Efunroye to Saka Tinubu, to Kafaru Tinubu and now Bola. they are doers. Nigerians just criticise. If you want to make a difference, stop moaning and put yourself on the line

mrsbeauty:

it is so untrue. he traveeled to the US at the time mainly because his family were based there. get your facts right. he is one of the most honourable Nigerians. Kudos to him and his lineage for all they have done for Nigeria, right from Efunroye to Saka Tinubu, to Kafaru Tinubu and now Bola. they are doers. Nigerians just criticise. If you want to make a difference, stop moaning and put yourself on the line

Please tell me this is a silly joke. Have you been to the US courts to verify, to make the kind of statement you just made above? Just go to the court house in IL to get your facts right first. I can't believe that someone, with all the information available, can stil make the statement above.

I am so pissed with all these "its not true", "sahara reporters is not a credible source" bla bla bla ,  Some are  even talking nonsense about enemies being at work. who does not have enemies anyway? and who told you your enemies will not always be at work . But when you  make the work of your enemies easy by being involved in shady deals , then  whose fault is it?

Is it because we are talking about TINUBU  here? We are damn biased in this country. How differently would the reactions have been if the character was an IBORI or an AKALA?

Abeg make we hear word  jare. I am 85% convinced that Tinubu has a case to answer in this. Let him use the remaining 15% to prove himself innocent.

If nah Ibori this thread for don reach like 10 pages, with some native doctor style abuse and curses to boot.
Naija & Partiality, listen to them, his enemies are at work indeed.

i dey wait for mr. due process, naijaking, make him come tell us say na unfair ting to assume say tinubu be tief since court never convict am for any ting. na de ting wey him tell us about bank ceos wey efcc arrest be dat.

truth be told, none of de hands of previous governors and even current ones, dey clean. all of dem be tief! e no matter which state dem come from.

i no tink say tinubu go enter usa, any time soon. him no fit enter with diplomatic passport again. make him come clear his name! court filings don implicate am.

SapeleGuy:

If nah Ibori this thread for don reach like 10 pages, with some native doctor style abuse and curses to boot.
Naija & Partiality, listen to them, his enemies are at work indeed.

GBAM

Depilot:

Yankee needs to mind their own.

Amebos.

Sorry,what do you mean by this statement?

I sincerely hope we can all read and summarise what we read.From the article above,As part of the court settlement,he forfeited the 460k dollars in First Heritage bank account he has with the said"Akande".OTHER DEPOSITS HE HAS IN THE SAME BANK,CITIBANK AND OTHER BANKS WAS RETURNED TO HIM.

It is a legal victory for Tinubu to get his siezed dollars in different accounts and banks returned to him which by far exceeds the meagre $460k.However,the amount forfeited was to avoid continous court visits.

During the period under investigation,these guys were making serious push and campaign for the the june 12 election and definitely money needs to exchange hands to oil the machinery.The amount could have been loundered or transfered from Nigeria.

I live in germany and have been visiting U.S.for almost 5 years now,,it takes outright defeat for a Judge to order the immediate release a siezed fund.It means no discrepancies were found and the agents or Feds investigations couldnt proof any link between the fund and narcotics.There is however an established relationship between Tinubu and Akande.But he wasnt involved in Akande's drug distribution network.

Tinubu should not be found guilty by association.

The publication is just one of many attempt to tarnish Tinubu's name.He is the most branded name in South-West politics and his vision and masterplan is being executed today by the present governor.

U.S and Britain are fund of raising dust about our leaders when theirs arent better off.They committed and are still committing the greatest crime against humanity and nobody can say anything about it.

You can not be a famous Nigerian politician and be without blemish,

Wooden nutmeg of lies. Where is the source? Kobo, so this is enough evidence to you? No source. The writer even shot himself in the leg. He said us and Tinubu enter into an agreement on an issue that involves drug trafficking, i have never heard the united states of america done such a thing, neither is there any law in the us that says drug traffickers can be left of the hook if they enter into plea bargaining. This story is nothing but a cooked up story that only political slaves like kobo can believe. Its all lies

Post above by @olafolarin nails most of it. Tinubu appears to have laundered narcotics money, but this doesn't mean he was a drug dealer/drug lord himself.

There is a distinction between the two. Drug dealers generally don't open bank accounts themselves or try to launder their drug money clean themselves. Instead they find someone else to do it.

If the DA had been able to form a case against Tinubu for felony DRUG TRAFFICKING, then he wouldn't have been able to come to any deals. He'd probably be rotting in prison to this day. It is almost impossible in this country to come to any sort of arrangement that will keep you out of prison if you are involved in felony drug trafficking.

Worst thing you can say about Tinubu is that he was somehow involved in laundering money, and in fact drug money. However, even the DA wasn't able to build a case against him strong enough to lock him up (otherwise they would have taken it to court and not given him the choice of just forfeiting the money!)

The fact that he was forced to give up that $460K in a deal, was not jailed, and still travels back and forth to the US should be enough to tell you that he was not drug lord, as many here accuse him of being. Drug lords do not get visas from Nigeria to be travelling to America, much less giving lectures there.

Now, with all of the above said, does this mean that Tinubu is CLEAN? Almost certainly not. He is very likely a crooked man. At the very least, we can suspect he laundered drug money for his underworld friends, and may have done worse. But may is not the same as did. Innocent until proven guilty is the law of the land, at least here in the US.

Let no one call Tinubu a drug dealer again, unless they can provide hard evidence of it. And if you FIND that hard evidence, don't just bring it here. Call up the DA in the US and have them lock him up! If you have a picture or photo of Tinubu dealing drugs, not only post it here, send it to the district attorney so they can lock him up next time he visits the US! Somehow I doubt that anyone can produce this hard evidence.

Anyway, no more he-say she-say slander stuff that the Kobojunkie's of the world do.

Oh Men!!!!!

white heron,
thats that afgan terror dome shitte

u need spheres of steel to move that.
u deal with tajiks, uzbeks, afgans and ex-KGB(russian mafia) to move it via siberia to europe.
and u move that thro one of the toughest and roughest alleys of the world. osama's hood!

Ribadu nor see this wan o!

Tinubu tinubu, the man wit so much skeleton in his cuboard!