A charge sheet prepared in 2011 by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Mohammed Bello Adoke, aimed at charging with perjury former Lagos State governor and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has emerged.
The undated two-page charge sheet obtained by SaharaReporters was personally prepared by the Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke.
The charges, to which were attached four documents which includes Mr. Tinubu’s INEC form, A declaration affidavits also known as INEC Form CR 001, a letter stating that Tinubu did not attend Chicago State University which was obtained from FBI agent, Jennifer Dent, who was the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s assistant legal attaché at the US Consulate in Lagos in 2011.
In a response to the Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Farida Waziri, through Bala Sanga, a Principal Staff Officer at the commission, Ms. Dent affirmed that the FBI’s check with the Chicago State University in the United States showed that contrary to his claims, Mr. Tinubu was never enrolled as a student, or graduated as one. The letter came a few months later, the EFCC had sought the agent’s help as of January 2011. The FBI agent did not respond until July some four months after the Presidential elections were concluded.
The charges also claimed that Mr. Tinubu perjured himself by claiming that he attended Government College in Ibadan between 1965 and 1968, as he had not done so. Mr. Adoke attached a copy of the list of students that graduated from Government College Ibadan to the charge sheet, Mr. Tinubu’s name was conspicuously missing on the list.
The documents, which are reproduced here, clearly show how Mr. Tinubu made the claims in reference.
SaharaReporters learnt that the charges which were prepared before the 2011 elections in April were never filed simply because Mr. Tinubu played ball in cutting a deal with President Jonathan to work against his own party, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the presidential election. The ACN fielded former EFCC Chairman, Nuhu Ribadu, as its presidential candidate, but he was defeated in all the Southwest states except Osun.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo made mention of the deal in his recently published autobiography, accusing President Jonathan of bribing Tinubu with a large sum of money to buy him off the ACN. The national leader of the APC has not denied the allegations included in Obasanjo’s book.
Although Tinubu was not officially charged for perjury, the Jonathan regime charged him before the Code of Conduct Tribunal in September 2011 for illegally operating foreign accounts.
Those charges were dropped after Tinubu reportedly cut a fresh deal with Mr. Jonathan in 2012.
Earlier on Monday, it was disclosed that Mr. Tinubu has renewed his prior interest in being the APC’s candidate for the vice-presidency. However, early this morning leaders his party rejected his candidacy and that of his nominee, Prof. Yemi Osibajo.
