by Joseph Omoremi
CHICAGO, IL -A joint release of 229 pages out of 510 pages reviewed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S State Department on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Nigeria with no incriminating documents in it has forced the plaintiff to seek the full release of all sealed and redacted documents.
In a motion filed in U.S. District Court in Columbia Aaron Greenspan of PlainSite website and one of the founders of Facebook social network cited nine reasons while a full disclosure of the files of Tinubu and his associates should be disclosed adding he “ is sorely interested in government transparency and furthering investigative journalism.”
He described Tinubu as a world leader which necessitated the need for “disclosure of any criminal records related to him or parties he worked closely with including hie wife Oluremi Tinubu.
Unsealing Tinubu’s alleged criminal history now, Greenspan argued, would not jeopardize any ongoing investigation for an event that happened more than 30-years ago adding that that former President “Clinton files” in similar situation were unsealed after 20-years.
It would also bring to clarity the reason Tinubu and one Abiodun Agbele whom he worked with in the past were arrested but never indicted or charged to court. It however “suggests a sealed records may exist.”
Greenspan, it would be recalled had sued the FBI, Executive Office for U.S Attorneys Office, U.S Department of State, U.S Department of Treasury, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in June this year after his Freedom the Information Act (FOIA) requested were delayed.
Nine of Tinubu’s bank accounts with Heritage Bank in Country Club Hills, a Chicago southern suburb were frozen by U.S. government but Tinubu was never prosecuted nor indicted.
Greenspan however wondered why Tinubu, Abiodun Adele, who court records indicated sold one ounce of cocaine to a federal agent on November 20, 1990 for $7,000 while working as an undercover agent were not indicted.
Greenspan also wondered while Mueez Adegboyega Adele and Tinubu were not indicted despite a detailed affidavit by Special agent Moss’s “outlining the specifics of their operations as well as their alleged crimes.”
“A plausible explanation for this conspicuous absence of information is that any criminal cases regarding these defendants were sealed as a condition of Tinubu agreeing to settle allegations of wrongdoing with the U.S. government.
A wire transfer of $80,000 to the First Heritage Bank account of Ashiwaju Bola A. Tinubu triggered the investigation of the former Lagos Governor and closure of nine bank accounts linked to him as well as the forfeiture of $460,000 to the U.S. government in October 1993.
Tinubu had opened an individual money market account and a NOW account in Chicago in December 1989 according to U.S District Court documents obtained by The Chicago Inquirer.
Mr. Adegboyega Mueez Akande, now late and who was under investigation by local police, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and FBI wired the money to Tinubu.
One of the clients of Akande, Lee Andrew Edwards now in jail for attempting to murder a federal agent had been busted as a source of white heroine across Chicagoland. Akande had provided Edwards a telephone number which activated an electronic pager to be called to buy white heroine.
“Cocaine, heroine, guns and paraphernalia used to distribute drugs were recovered during the execution of the search warrant,” on Edwards according to court records.
Edwards however cooperated with law enforcement agents on the distribution networks of Akande narcotics operations and networks across Chicagoland.
He also gave the name of Abiodun Agbele, an agent of Akande to federal investigators. Agbele who arrived in Chicago in 1988 sold “one ounce of white heroine to a law enforcement officer working as an undercover for $7,000” and was arrested.
He cooperated with Feds and provided detailed information on heroine distribution network of Akande who returned to Nigeria in the mid-90s. The various confessions by Edwards, Agbele and another informant identified as source A led to the move against the accounts linked to Tinubu and his Compass Finance & Investment Company.
Bank records show that Tinubu opened the account on January 4, 1990 and Akande through his wife deposited $80,000 to the account five days after the opening.
“The transaction was completed at the direction of Mirbec A. Akande who resided at 7930 Corporate Dr, Houston, Texas. A review of bank records by investigators disclosed that an individual named Mueez Adegboyega Akande previously used the address.
Bank employees of First Heritage bank in Country Club hills, a suburb of Chicago disclosed that Akande introduced Bola Tinubu to the bank. Both Tinubu and Adegboyega Mueez Akande opened a joint-checking account in his name and his wife Oluremi Tinubu. Senator Oluremi Tinubu also operated a joint checking account with the bank with Audrey Akande, wife of Adegboyega Mueez Akande.
Besides the money deposited by Akande to Tinubu’s account, bank records from First Heritage bank revealed that Tinubu deposited $661,000 and $1,216,500 into his individual money market account in 1991.
The former Lagos State governor now Nigeria’s President also operated a world-wide personal banking unit with Citibank account where he transferred $560,000 from his individual money market account. Mobil Oil, employer of Tinubu at the time confirmed his employment status as a treasurer with the company.
“This position does not involve a large transfer of money,” a Mobil representative told Kevin Moss, a Special Agent with the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) who investigated the case adding “under no circumstances would Tinubu be permitted to retain money belonging to Mobil Oil in accounts bearing Tinubu’s name.”
The establishment of a working relationship between Tinubu and Akande led to a seizure warrant that was subsequently presented to the U.S. District Court of the Northern District in Chicago for money in the First Heritage Bank and Citibank in the name of Tinubu. Court records indicate that the amount seized in the two accounts exceeded $1.4 million.
Court records also show that additional $550,000 was seized from Citibank International held in the name of Tinubu after corporate documents from Compass Finance and Investment Company including articles of incorporation and memorandum of association used in opening the account listed Mueez Adegboyega Akande and Abiodun Olasuyi as directors of Compass Finance and investment Company.
