The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has again come to the defence of President Bola Tinubu over his controversial indictment in the United States over drug-related offence and money laundering.
Recall that Tinubu was allegedly indicted in a US federal investigation in the early 1990s over heroin trafficking and money laundering activities in Chicago and became the subject of this investigation in January 1992.
The scandal would become one of the talking point for opposition parties during the 2023 Presidential campaign.
Despite winning the election, the drug case still lingered till 2025.
With the 2027 General Election drawing closer, the case had again resurfaced as the 2027 African Democratic Congress (ADC) Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, secured the service of Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C, a Washington-based lobbying firm.
The firm disclosed that it has begun providing US Department of Justice (DOJ) records concerning drug trafficking allegations against Tinubu to members of the Donald Trump administration, congress, and senior congressional staff.
Speaking on the resurfaced case during an interview on Channels TV’s Politics Today programme, Keyamo backed Tinubu, stressing that the President was not a defendant in the case.
The minister claimed that it is accounts linked to him that were probed and charged to court and not the Presidenr himself.
“Asiwaju Bola Tinubu was not mentioned as a defendant. People usually skip that. It was only account numbers that were mentioned.
“At end of the day, they just said account number in the name of Tinubu. That is all.
“Not that Tinubu was a defendant. It was accounts in his name, not him. Those accounts were sued, not him.” Keyamo said.