Politics

Tinubu’s $460,000 US Tax: APC, PDP Campaigns In Verbal War

Published

3 years ago

November 11, 2022

Editor

The All Progressives Congress, APC, and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Presidential Campaign Councils, PCCs, were at each other’s jugular yesterday, over the $460,000 deducted from the accounts of the APC Presidential flagbearer, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in the United States of America, U.S.

The Chief Spokesman of the Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, Mr. Festus Keyamo said that the $460,000 was tax deducted from one of the 10 accounts linked to Tinubu and pooh-poohed the documents he attributed to the PDP, which are circulating in the social media, which accused Tinubu of drug deals while he lived in the US.

However, the PDP insisted that Tinubu has a lot of explanations to do and dismissed what it described as Keyamo’s “spirited attempts” to deflect attention from his principal’s questionable past.

$460,000 deducted was for tax on Tinubu’s investments – KEYAMO

Keyamo said $460,000 was deducted from one of the 10 accounts linked to the APC presidential candidate as tax on investment domiciled in US banks, while he lived in America in the 1990s.

Keyamo, who spoke on Channels’ Television’s ”Today Politics” programme on Wednesday night, insisted that there was no criminal indictment or conviction against Tinubu, alleging that the opposition PDP was behind the reincarnation of the controversial court document.

“His (Tinubu’s) detractors kept bringing up these issues over and over whenever his political profile is rising. Whenever he wants to run for office or any political turn in his life, they will bring up these issues,” Keyamo said.

“The date on the papers flying up and down, the date of certification is 2022, so they are using this to confuse people that these are fresh papers.

”If documents are 40 years old or 100 years old, once you go to court, and apply for certified true copies of those documents, they will give you those documents but they will stamp the day they are giving you those documents.

“This is what our detractors, the PDP, perhaps, that is what they went to the US for when they pretended that they went for high-level engagement. This is part of the high-level engagement they went for.”

Keyamo also said although 10 accounts were linked to Tinubu by United States authorities in the early 90s, $460,000 were deducted from one of the accounts as tax on investments domiciled in US banks.

He was reacting to the controversy surrounding a document recently released by the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois said to have investigated Tinubu’s alleged involvement in narcotics and money laundering about 30 years ago.

The matter, which ended in a settlement, led to Tinubu’s forfeiture of $460,000 in one of the accounts linked to the former governor of Lagos State.

Keyamo said Tinubu took responsibility for all the 10 accounts because some were also traced to his mother and “relatives.”

He also said Tinubu was roped into the drug trafficking case of two Nigerians, who once stayed in separate flats in the same building where the ex-governor stayed at a time in the US.

“He, Asiwaju, went to open an account, the address by which he opened the account was already used by these people…investigated for narcotics,” he said.

‘Not a deliberate act’

Keyamo further stated that Tinubu was an employee of Mobil Oil and not a treasurer of a drug cartel.

He explained that Tinubu deposited some funds in bank accounts in the US as investments and got returns on those investments.

The spokesman said the banks were supposed to deduct taxes from the investments but they did not and this was not a “deliberate act” on the part of Tinubu.

“The deposits he made there (in banks) are what bankers called investments; he kept the money there and he was getting interests.

”They (the US government) said he had not paid tax on those interests. That is all. And guess what? The banks are supposed to deduct the tax from source.

“Out of the 10 accounts, it was only one account – the one in Heritage Bank – that they took $460,000 as tax on interest that he benefited on the investment he made in those accounts.

“In fact, all the money in Heritage Bank was not taken; they took only $460,000 as tax,” said Keyamo, who is also the Minister of State, Labour and Employment.

Tinubu has questions to answer over forfeiture, PDP insists

However, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Debo Ologunagba, said in a telephone interview with Vanguard, in response to Keyamo’s allegations that the PDP exhumed documents in a vain attempt to make Tinubu appear guilty of a crime for forfeiting US$460,000 believed to be proceeds of illicit drugs trade that, “Ordinarily, we wouldn’t be responding to Keyamo or the APC on this issue but Nigerians deserve to know the truth about people, who are seeking for public office.

“In this case, not just public office but also the highest office in the land. It is a basic principle in law that ‘He who must come to equity must do so with clean hands.’

“What Nigerians are saying is that Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu should come clean of these allegations.

“If one may ask Keyamo, who by the way is a lawyer, what does forfeiture mean? A simple dictionary definition of forfeiture means: ‘loss or giving up of something as a penalty for wrongdoing.‘ simply put, You don’t forfeit if no offence was committed.

“Tinubu and the APC should stop trying to make the PDP a scapegoat. They should speak on the issues.

“I’m glad Keyamo did not say PDP manufactured the documents, he said the documents were ‘exhumed,’ which means, they exist.

“Nigerians deserve answers and we hope the APC and its presidential candidate are ready with the answers because these issues will not simply disappear.

“For us in the PDP, we are ready for the task ahead, that is why we have been campaigning, selling our candidates, Atiku Abubakar and Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, who need little or no introduction.

“Nigerians deserve the best and our candidates stand head above shoulders in comparison to the others; that is why they deserve the votes of Nigerians in February, 2023.”
VANGUARD

Politics

FULL LIST: APC Sweeps Rivers Elections, Wins 20 Of 23 LGAs

Published

17 hours ago

August 31, 2025

Editor

The All Progressives Congress has emerged victorious in a landslide victory in the Saturday Rivers State local government elections, securing 20 out of the 23 LGAs.

According to The PUNCH, the Chairman, Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, Dr Michael Odey, announced the results at the commission’s Headquarters along Aba Road in Port Harcourt on Sunday afternoon.

According to Odey, the Peoples Democratic Party managed to clinch the remaining three LGAs.

The full list of chairpersons-elect is as follows:

1. Abua/Odual: Ofori Owolabi (APC)

2. Ahoada East: Solomon Achoma (APC)

3. Ahoada West: Eugene Epelle (APC)

4. Akuku Toru: Bob Fubara (APC)

5. Andoni: Lucky Promise (APC)

6. Asari Toru: George Onegiyeofori (APC)

7. Bonny: Abinye Blessing Pepple (APC)

8. Degema: Michael John Williams (APC)

9. Eleme: Obarilomate Ollor (APC)

10. Emohua: Chidi Loyd (APC)

11. Etche: Njoku Boniface (APC)

12. Gokana: Dekor Confidence (APC)

13. Ikwerre: Charles Wobodo (APC)

14. Khana: Bariere Thomas (APC)

15. Obio/Akpor: Gift Worlu (PDP)

16. Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni: Shedrach Ogbogu (PDP)

17. Ogu/Bolo: Vincent Nemioboka (APC)

18. Okrika: Akuro Tobin (APC)

19. Omuma: Obasi Uchechwuku (APC)

20. Opobo/Nkoro: James A. James (APC)

21. Oyigbo: Okechukwu Akara (APC)

22. PHALGA: Allwell Ihunda (PDP)

23. Tai: Mbakpone Okpe (APC)

The RSIEC Chairman also disclosed that certificates of return will be presented to the winners on Monday, September 1.

This election marks the first time the APC has gained such dominance in Rivers State since the return of democracy in 1999.

Politics

Keyamo Warns PDP Against Fielding Jonathan, Obi In 2027

Published

17 hours ago

August 31, 2025

Editor

The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has warned that the Peoples Democratic Party risks serious setbacks in its 2027 presidential strategy if it opts for former President Goodluck Jonathan or ex-Anambra governor Peter Obi as its standard-bearer.

In a long post on his X account on Sunday, Keyamo said the opposition party remains in a “non-enviable position” after failing to zone its 2023 ticket to the South, a decision he said cost the PDP support in its traditional strongholds in the South-South and South-East.

Keyamo argued that nominating Jonathan carries a constitutional danger tied to section 137(3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which he suggested could bar anyone sworn in twice as president from contesting again.

“If he is fielded, the Party runs the RISK of NOT HAVING A CANDIDATE AT ALL,” Keyamo wrote, warning that such a legal challenge would ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court.

“The constitutional amendment was made AFTER the court judgment which cleared him (Jonathan) to run in 2015, so nothing is decided yet on that new amendment, hence I use the word ‘RISK’ advisedly. All the arguments as to whether the section can be interpreted to affect him will not be decided on Social Media, but at the Supreme Court.

“If he is barred from running AFTER nominations have closed and the PDP is declared as having no candidate, nobody should scream ‘judiciary is corrupt’ because such a large party saw the judicial danger ahead and deliberately ignored it.”

He added that the party would bear responsibility if it ignored the legal risk and lost its candidacy after nominations closed.

“All the arguments … will not be decided on social media, but at the Supreme Court,” he said.

Keyamo also dismissed the likelihood of a successful South-West flagbearer for the PDP.

“If the PDP decides to field its most attractive S/West candidate, no other region of the country will vote for a fresh Yoruba candidate who would be eligible for a fresh two terms in office.

“And that candidate will battle with the well-oiled APC structures in the S/West. You need a majority of at least 3 to 4 regions in Nigeria to win the Presidency.”

On Peter Obi, the minister said bringing the former Labour Party candidate into the PDP fold would not solve the party’s problems.

He suggested doubts about Obi’s credibility, plus his past one-term pledge, could dilute support among his core followers.

“The principled ones amongst the ‘obidients’ will see him as going back to his vomit … and may not be too vociferous in their support anymore,” Keyamo wrote.

Concluding his assessment, the minister blamed the PDP’s current predicament on what he called its “original sin” of not zoning the 2023 ticket to the South.

“The young social media warriors may lampoon anyone talking about these zoning sentiments, but that is the REALITY of our politics,” he said, adding that unless “something EXTRAORDINARY happens, the Party may have to wait till 2031.”

The PDP has not publicly responded to Keyamo’s comments.

Politics

Ex-Tinubu Campaign Coordinator Resigns From APC

Published

18 hours ago

August 31, 2025

Editor

The former Tinubu/Shettima 2023 Presidential Campaign Coordinator in Zamfara State, Senator Kabiru Marafa has confirmed his resignation from the All Progressives Congress.

Marafa, who confirmed his registration to Channels Television via text message on Sunday, left the ruling party after a meeting with his political structure last Wednesday and Thursday.

In a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, the leaders of the group unanimously resolved to dump the APC over what they described as injustice, neglect, and worsening insecurity in Zamfara State.

They expressed grave concern over the deteriorating security situation, citing recent statistics that placed Zamfara as the state with the highest number of kidnapping cases in the country.

The group also accused the Federal Government of politicising insecurity during the recent Kaura Namoda bye-election, alleging that security forces were deployed to secure the APC’s electoral victory rather than protect lives.

“The entire structure with all its supporters hereby formally resigns from the All Progressives Congress in protest against the sustained injustice, mistrust, marginalisation, and deliberate neglect of Zamfara State and its people. We shall, in due course, announce our next political direction, guided by the collective interest of the good people of Zamfara State,” the communiqué, issued on Friday, partly read.

On political appointments, Marafa’s loyalists faulted what they termed the deliberate marginalisation of Zamfara, despite the state’s contribution to the APC’s 2023 presidential victory.

They noted that while other states in the North-West secured multiple ministerial slots, Zamfara got only one, and communities devastated by banditry attacks have received little or no federal intervention.

The statement, signed by Comrade Bashir Muhammad Mafara (Chairman) and Dr. Mannir Bature Tsafe (Secretary), added that the group will soon announce its next political direction in line with the aspirations of the Zamfara people.