First published in my column, #TheAlternative, in today’s ThisDay.

On this edition of #TheAlternative, I am going to X-ray a statement made by the minister of state for labour and productivity (more accurately unproductivity), Festus Keyamo, who also doubles (and majors) as spokesman for the Bola Tinubu Presidential Campaign Council.

In a recent interview with a budding media outlet, Mr. Keyamo said:

“Asiwaju Tinubu is a wealth creator. He’s an expert in wealth creation and what the country badly needs now is about wealth creation. If someone who turned around the fortune of Lagos and the revenue of Lagos. Some people said the debt of Lagos also went up. Yes of course, debt going up is an indication that you are now become credit worthy. With that heavy debt, no creditor is complaining.”

Well, let us interrogate his claims on their merit. Is Tinubu truly a wealth creator?

I have proved beyond all reasonable doubt that Bola Tinubu is a known drug Lord. That is a fact. It is backed up by documentary evidence. And what we know may just be the tip of the iceberg. Drug cartels are very secretive and destructive organisations. And their secrets are only known to them and intelligence agencies around the world.

And that is why Bola Tinubu is a security risk. His cartel members and foreign and domestic intelligence agencies will have compromising information on him. And that means that he would be vulnerable to them.

These organisations may have photos, documents, recordings, and other damaging information on Mr. Tinubu, which they can use to bend him to their designs. It is just too risky to have that type of character at the helm of our affairs.

A compromised President would be a puppet, a patsy, and a putty in the hand of blackmailers. No nation on Earth can afford such a number one citizen.

Even the United States, perhaps the most stable democracy on Earth, could not take that risk after the Watergate incident, because President Richard Nixon had become vulnerable.

One of the Watergate burglars demanded blackmail money of one million from Nixon, as now declassified transcripts of White House meetings reveal.

At the meeting, which occurred on March 21, 1973, at the White House, Nixon had said:

“On the money, if you need the money you could get that. You could get a million dollars. You could get it in cash. I know where it could be gotten. It is not easy, but it could be done. But the question is who the hell would handle it? Any ideas on that?"

12 hours after that meeting, E. Howard Hunt Jr. one of the Watergate conspirators, received $75,000 in cash. And it was that payment that made Nixon’s position untenable, because it was evidence of an attempt to obstruct justice by Nixon himself.

And that was a major reason why Nixon had to go. Because he had become vulnerable. If he could be blackmailed by a bunch of burglars, imagine what could be done by foreign intelligence agencies.

And what Tinubu is/was involved in is more sordid than Watergate.

And a similar scenario is playing out in Serbia, where President Aleksandar Vučić is embroiled in a major scandal, of which he is accused of taking decisions contrary to Serbia’s national interests because a foreign power is aware of a crime he committed and is using that to blackmail him.

And then again, it has now been exposed by declassified US cables that former Colombian President, Álvaro Uribe, had tied to drug cartels and they were able to blackmail him to take certain actions.

Nigeria does not need that right now. We have too many pressing challenges that present a clear and present threat to our national well being. We do not need to add to them the almost insurmountable issue of having a fatally flawed President who is tied to a White Heroin drug ring.

Such an individual could be manipulated into taking out unfavourable loans that make Nigeria independent in name only, or to appoint other similarly fatally flawed persons into sensitive national positions.

Already, around the world, when you as a Nigerian citizen bring out your green passport, you are stigmatised and given the ‘look’. You know what I mean. In long immigration lines, you are taken aside and treated as a suspect.

Now, close your eyes and imagine how much worse this will get if we elect a KNOWN DRUG LORD as our President! Nigerians ought to research what happened to the Colombian passport when it was believed that their then President had ties to drug cartels.

An army of sheep led by a lion is treated with respect. An army of lions led by a goat is treated with disdain and scorn. That is what will happen to Nigeria if we elect a KNOWN DRUG LORD as our President.

Our green passport would be red flagged at foreign airports! Whether you want to japa, or just travel for holidays, you, as a Nigerian citizen, will pay a price you can’t afford to pay if Bola Tinubu ever emerges as our President.

That Bola Tinubu is stinking rich is obvious. But what is not obvious is how he became so wealthy. What businesses does he have? He does not have a school. He does not own a hotel that he declared as his property. He denies ownership of Aphabeta, and the Lekki Concession Company. The Nation and TVC are barely breaking even. He is not featured on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s list of high profile importers. So where is his money coming from?

Tinubu cannot say emilokan and then go on to behave as if ko kan wa. How did he make his money? What are his businesses? The boast he made about making millions from Mobil has been exposed as a lie, because Mobil Oil Corporation (now known as ExxonMobil) told the IRS in court documents filed by the FBI in 1992 that Tinubu’s monthly salary was just $2400. And Tinubu resigned from Mobil in 1992, after his drug forfeiture plea bargain with the US Department of Justice, to contest election as the Senator representing Lagos West.

We know how much Tinubu gets as pension from the Lagos State Government. It cannot justify the lifestyle he is living. Records from the Corporate Affairs Commission do not show him to be a significant business owner. So, where did the money from the bullion vans emanate from?

Right there we have another obvious red flag. Being rich without a known source of income is one of the hallmarks of drug cartels. And we know for a fact that Bola Tinubu was a member of a white heroin drug cartel as of 1992. And if he cannot prove the source of his wealth then there is every reason to believe he never left that cartel!

We already have unknown gunmen. We do not need unknown wealthy men. If you run a search at the Corporate Affair Commission, you will have almost 40 businesses linked to Waziri Atiku Abubakar. You will find Peter Obi. But you won’t find Tinubu’s businesses. Where are his billions from?

Bola Tinubu is the number one exponent of wealth without enterprise. Nobody can say where his money comes from. We just know that he is rich. If you ask any promoter of Bola Tinubu’s presidential ambition to name his source of wealth, they get offended instead of being proud!

If Evans the kidnapper, or Wadume, his co kidnapper, had never been caught, they could have been a political godfather, like Tinubu. Don’t forget that Wadume worked for the All Progressives Congress. And like them, Tinubu was caught, in America, for drug offences!

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission goes around Southern Nigeria arresting young men living flashy lifestyles without known sources of income. Meanwhile, they are silent as a Tinubu, without a known source of income, aspires to be their Commander-in-Chief!

No be juju be that?

If a keen observer observers some of Tinubu’s interviews, it is clear that the man was not just part of a white heroin cartel, he may have and still be consuming the product.

Cast your mind to Tuesday September 11, 2018, Tinubu boasted that “I am richer than Osun state”. On that day, he looked stoned and high as a kite. But the real question is this, what business does he have that generates the revenue that makes him richer than Osun?

That is the million dollar question that Festus Keyamo ought to answer. But I fear that it may be easier to resolve the Academic Staff Union of Universities strike faster than it is to answer such a question.

In fact, this election season is really funny.

Peter Obi, one the biggest importers of foreign goods for resale in Nigeria is promising to move Nigeria from consumption to production. While Tinubu, who can’t solve the mystery of his own real identity is promising to solve Nigeria’s problems! And Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, who built a school in Niger Republic with Nigerian government money (Kano state funds) at a time while ASUU was on strike, is promising to resolve the current ASUU strike.

My people, no be juju be that?

Reno’s Nuggets

One of the most foolish things you can do is run after people God removed from your life. If you call and they don’t pick or respond to your call, stop running after them. Not only are you reducing your value to them, you are also refusing to see God’s Hand in it!

For your peace of mind, learn to obey this rule: If you call your friend and they do not pick, wait a day for them to call you back. If they don’t return your call in 24 hours, text them. If they don’t respond to your text within 24 hours, and they have not been abducted, kidnapped, or incapacitated in a hospital, you may be their friend, but they are not your friend. Nobody on Earth is that busy!

#RenosNuggets #FreeLeahSharibu

Reno Omokri

Gospeller. Deep Thinker. #1 Bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years. Hodophile. Hollywood Magazine Film Festival Humanitarian of the Year, 2019.

Lalasticlala

Hmm, very deep

He didn't say anything about how atiku looted government money while he was custom officer and vice president.

So he wants to tell us that atiku is a saint.

Any ways, a reminder that atiku means we are dead in Yoruba language. So vote him at your own peril.

Meanwhile, I stand with Peter Obi