The Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Council of the Labour Party (LP) has challenged the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to take bold step to clarify himself on the certified copies of US court judgment documents that purportedly indicted him for drug trafficking and money laundering in Chicago, U.S.A. in 1993, which have been trending in social media and other news platforms.
The Obi- Datti Media Office, therefore, insisted that Tinubu must come clean with his past, face public scrutiny by Nigerians or quit the presidential race, arguing that the office he seeks to occupy requires a man who should be clean in all ramifications.
The Labour Party presidential campaign challenged the APC presidential candidate to stop engaging proxies to speak for him about his past, noting that it is a ploy to “deny Nigerians the opportunity of knowing exactly the person aspiring to rule them.”
The Obi-Datti Media Office in a statement declared: “Rather than be ashamed of the embarrassing situation, Tinubu Campaign office is arrogantly and fraudulently covering up and scheming to pick and choose the public events to attend.
“It’s not enough to release a document as manifesto but not be available to defend and explain how you intend to carry out the implementations of the manifesto since spokespersons are not going to be on the ballot.
“If Tinubu truly had any record of narcotics and money laundering case arising from drug related businesses at any stage in his life, he must explain himself to Nigerians.
“And if he hid his past to Nigerians and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), necessary steps should be taken by relevant authorities to save the country from such a person having access to power at the highest office in the land.
“Obi-Datti Media office is aware that there is a column in INEC form to candidates seeking to know if they had ever been convicted by any court of law anywhere in the world and that withholding such information breaches the 2022 Electoral Act (as amended).
“In view of the fresh facts arising from the US court document, Nigerians expect the Electoral Commission to demand a convincing response from the APC presidential candidate and to act on it accordingly without let or hindrance
“Following the successive failure of governance in our country over time, the Electoral Commission and, indeed, the entire Nigerian populace should show more than passing interest in the backgrounds of all those aspiring to rule this country.
“It’s against this backdrop that we totally align our position with that of our Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi, that candidacy by proxy must be rejected since the buck stops on the table of the person being elected not spokespersons or attack dogs”.
The Obi-Datti Media Office, therefore, declared that “if the APC candidate is not ready and willing to subject himself to the scrutiny required of anybody seeking to occupy the number one job in the land, he should quit.”