The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has refuted purported claims that it set to investigate the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, over alleged drug trafficking.
Quest Times had earlier reported that a US District Court indicted the presidential candidate for drug dealings and money laundering.
The US court judgment documents resurfaced on Tuesday, November 8, and have been making the rounds on the internet.
The certified court documents indicated that Tinubu entered a plea bargain in which he voluntarily agreed to forfeit some monies found in his account to American authorities in 1993.
Following this, there was a viral report that INEC purportedly plan to investigate Tinubu over the weighty allegations levied against his candidacy.
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Reacting, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, in a statement on Saturday, denied the purported report while calling on the public to disregard the “fake news”.
“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 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 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.
“Press releases from the Commission are uploaded to the INEC Press Corps platform and simultaneously disseminated through our website and official social media handles. The public is advised to ignore the press release,” Okoye said.