Arise News presenters Reuben Abati and Rufai Oseni have expressed opposing views on whether the controversy surrounding President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s forfeiture of funds in the United States was conclusively resolved before he assumed office in 2023.
The disagreement emerged during a discussion on The Morning Show, where both journalists examined renewed attention on Tinubu’s past and the forfeiture of about $460,000 in the United States.
The issue stems from a 1990s US investigation involving bank accounts linked to Tinubu and several individuals who were investigated over alleged narcotics trafficking. In 1993, a US court authorised the forfeiture of funds held in multiple accounts associated with Tinubu and others.
The controversy returned to the spotlight during the 2023 presidential election, when Tinubu’s opponents repeatedly questioned the forfeiture and its implications for his qualification to contest the presidency.
Tinubu and his supporters have consistently argued that the forfeiture was not a criminal conviction and that the funds were forfeited in relation to a tax matter. His critics, however, have maintained that the circumstances surrounding the case deserved closer examination.
During the discussion, Abati suggested that the matter had already been addressed through the appropriate legal and political processes before Tinubu became president in 2023.
Rufai disagreed, arguing that the issue could not simply be regarded as settled because Tinubu won the 2023 presidential election and the subsequent legal challenges were concluded.
Tinubu’s 2023 election victory was challenged by Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party and Peter Obi of the Labour Party. The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal dismissed both petitions, and the Supreme Court later affirmed Tinubu’s victory.
Despite those rulings, legal disputes arising from the election, along with separate controversies relating to Tinubu’s background, have remained subjects of public and political debate.
