Ahead of next year’s Nigerian Presidential elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has debunked widespread claims that it had earlier opened investigations into allegations of criminal forfeiture against the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu.
Africa Today News, New York reports that over the last one week, Tinubu had come under intense attack especially on social media following the release of documents that suggested that some funds belonging to him were seized by the United States Government in 1989 for being proceeds of drug trafficking.
Meanwhile, a press release purported to have been issued by INEC had since Friday been circulating online, claiming that the Commission has commenced an investigation into the case of criminal forfeiture against Tinubu.
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The letter said the commission was liaising with a court in the United States to determine a possible violation of Nigeria’s Electoral Act 2022.
However, on Saturday, INEC stated categorically that the said press release did not emanate from it, neither is it pursuing any investigation against the APC candidate.
His statement read in part, ‘A press release purported to have been issued by the commission has been trending online since Friday, November 11, 2022. It claims that the commission has commenced an 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 the 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.’
Okoye stated that statements from the Commission are always uploaded to the INEC Press Corps platform “and simultaneously disseminated through our website and official social media handles.”
He advised the public to ignore the press release.