- Says we’re not ‘investigating’ any presidential candidate
BY VICTOR BUORO – The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disowned a press statement claiming that it has moved against the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu over his alleged connection to issues of “criminal forfeiture of funds linked to narcotics smuggling conspiracy and money laundering” in the United States.
Dated Friday, November 11, 2022, and allegedly signed by INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of Voter Education Committee, Barrister Festus Okoye, the controversial letter had quoted INEC as saying it was “currently liaising with the Northern Illinois District Court in order to establish more facts about the case before taking a decision.”
The letter, which the electoral umpire has now declared as ‘utterly fake’ and the ‘handiwork of mischief makers’, had further claimed thus; “We are also studying the judgment in order to determine whether offences which contradict the INEC guidelines and Electoral Act 2022 has hen committed.”
The purported statement came on the heels of a so-called Certified True Copy of Order of Criminal Forfeiture dated July 23, 1993, issued by an American Court against the APC standard bearer and has continued to make the round on social media in the last week.
has denied authoring a statement on allegations of drug trafficking made against the ruling All Progressives Congress APC Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
However, denying authoring the press statement on allegations of drug trafficking made against Tinubu on Saturday evening, INEC said in a release titled; ‘Purported Investigation of Criminal Forfeiture Against A Presidential Candidate’ and signed by Barrister Okoye, that it was not pursuing such course action against any presidential candidate as widely speculated in the social media
Blaming the phony news on mischief makers, the Commission said; “A Press Release purported to have been issued by the Commission has been trending online since yesterday Friday 11th November 2022. It claims that the Commission has commenced an 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 the same to determine a 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.”
Further putting a lie on the so-called press release, INEC maintained that; “Press Releases from the Commission are uploaded to the INEC Press Corps platform and simultaneously disseminated through our website and official social media handles.”
Accordingly, the electoral umpire said; “The public is advised to ignore the Press Release”.
