Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, a witness for President Bola Tinubu in the ongoing presidential election dispute, has admitted that the $460,000 that the Nigerian leader forfeited to the United States came from a narcotics business and money laundering.

Mr Bamidele, a politician from Ekiti and long-time protege of Mr Tinubu’s, was at the election petitions tribunal on Wednesday in Abuja to give testimony against Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the opposition Labour Party.

Mr Bamidele, while being led in his testimony by senior lawyer Lateef Fagbemi, said Mr Obi joined the opposition Labour Party while he was still holding his membership of the Peoples Democratic Party, another opposition party.

Among other documents, Mr Bamidele tendered the membership registration file of the Labour Party as of April 25, 2022, which showed that Mr Obi was not a member because his name could not be found on the list. The party’s registration document for Anambra also did not include Mr Obi’s name as of that period.

Peoples Gazette first reported Mr Obi’s exit from the PDP on May 25. Prior to that day, he had been a frontrunner in the bid for PDP’s presidential ticket. He formally announced his Labour membership two days later on May 27.

However, the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal said Mr Obi did not violate electoral law, even though he became the Labour’s presidential candidate on May 30, less than a month after he joined the party. The electoral law specified that an aspirant must have been a member of a political party for at least 30 days to be eligible to be a candidate.

The highlight of Mr Bamidele’s testimony came when he admitted under cross-examination by Mr Obi’s lawyers that Mr Tinubu indeed forfeited over $460,000 in illicit drug proceeds. The case occurred in the United States in the 1990s when Mr Tinubu was living in Chicago. The politician had declined to address the forfeiture for several years, despite its domination of headlines in the run-up to the presidential election on February 25.

Livy Uzoukwu, a senior lawyer handling Mr Obi’s case, asked whether or not Mr Bamidele know that the forfeiture was connected to narcotics dealing, to which he responded yes. He also responded that he understood there was money laundering involved in Mr Tinubu’s matter prior to the final forfeiture.

Mr Bamidele, who recently became the majority leader of the Nigerian Senate, appeared to be the most high-profile associate of Mr Tinubu to confirm the forfeiture and narcotics background of the former Lagos governor, who was sworn in as Nigeria’s president on May 29, following his controversial declaration as winner of the February presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

With just one witness, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, his Vice, Kashim Shetima and the All Progressives Congress APC on Wednesday closed their respective defence in a petition by the Labour Party LP and its presidential candidate, Mr Peter Gregory Obi seeking nullification of the February 25 presidential election.

Contrary to Tinubu’s decision to call 39 witnesses, he terminated his defence alongside two other respondents after the evidence-in-chief of the Senate Majority Leader, Michael Opeyemi Bamidele.

In his evidence-in-Chief, Senator Bamidele insisted that the $460, 000 forfeiture order against the President by an American Court was in respect of a civil matter that cannot take the place of criminal charges.

Bamidele, who is the immediate past Chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary and a registered member of the American Bar Association, said there was no conviction and sentence against Tinubu as required by law for it to be turned to criminal charges.

GeneralPula:
Bamidele, who is the immediate past Chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary and a registered member of the American Bar Association, said there was no conviction and sentence against Tinubu as required by law for it to be turned to criminal charges.

Case solved!

"...Put simply, Tinubu was alleged to be a bagman handling and laundering drug money. Tinubu claimed the funds belonged to Kafaru Tinubu and Alhaja Habibat Mogaji, even though, years later, he told The News magazine that all the money belonged to him(crooked criminal ).

In the end, Tinubu forfeited $460,000 held in his name by Heritage Bank, where he and Akande had strong links. “Why did they return $1m?” Fani-Kayode asked.

The biggest lie, peddled by Keyamo and Fani-Kayode, is that the $460,000 forfeited by Tinubu was a tax.The cover sheet of the certified true copy of the settle ment, issued on August 10, 2022, explicitly states under “Nature of Suit” that it’s forfeiture under “Code 625: Drug related seizure of property 21 USC 881.” The two boxes under “Federal tax suits” were not ticked. So, the $460, 000 was not a tax but a drug-related forfeiture.

Tinubu’s surrogates and spin doctors say he wasn’t indicted or convicted. But no rational individual would forfeit $460,000 of his hard-earned money, especially when linked to drug trafficking, without fighting to clear his name.

By having a “drug related seizure of property” recorded against his name, Tinubu is seriously tainted as a presidential candidate, and would cause Nigeria huge embarrassment if he became president....

GeneralPula:
Bamidele, who is the immediate past Chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary and a registered member of the American Bar Association, said there was no conviction and sentence against Tinubu as required by law for it to be turned to criminal charges. Case solved!

Forfeiture is a punishment for a crime committed. Narcotics trafficking is also a serious offence that attracts severe punishment.

“A person who has forfeited property on the basis of a crime cannot be entitled to indemnity. Forfeiture is a form of punishment. There is no indemnity in our criminal procedure,” the court further stated in a majority decision delivered. - Chief Justice Olukayode Ariwoola.

Livy Uzoukwu, a senior lawyer handling Mr Obi’s case, asked whether or not Mr Bamidele know that the forfeiture was connected to narcotics dealing, to which he responded yes. He also responded that he understood there was money laundering involved in Mr Tinubu’s matter prior to the final forfeiture.

Akwamkpuruamu:
Bamidele killed Tinubu. He's like Man U Harry Maguire

Buddha3:
The chief witness goofed under cross examination.

The defendants saw no need to call up any other witnesses, so those ones don't equally give damning testimonies if and when quizzed by Obi's lawyers..

Very interesting days ahead indeed.

Nwamazi8:
Tinubu is bleeped, Last Last na Yoruba man cast him fellow Yoruba man

Yoruba ronu gang will go crazy 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

001Lagos:

Same way that MKO abiola casted obafemi awolowo from becoming president which led to obafemi awolowo commiting suicide 😂

Gossiphub:
It's all over!

Akwamkpuruamu:
Bamidele killed Tinubu. He's like Man U Harry Maguire

GeneralPula:
Bamidele, who is the immediate past Chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary and a registered member of the American Bar Association, said there was no conviction and sentence against Tinubu as required by law for it to be turned to criminal charges.

Case solved!

001Lagos:

So the $460,000 forfeited by Tinubu is for what if not drug?