By Femi Fani-Kayode
He calls himself an investigative journalist yet he forgets the first law of journalism: that facts are sacred and opinion is cheap!
Whilst insisting that Tinubu was a drug lord, your guest did not answer the question that was put to him by Oseni… He asked, “On Channels Television last night Femi Fani-Kayode said $1 million USD was returned to Bola Tinubu by the U.S. authorities after the investigation was completed and only $460,000 USD was seized due to tax that was not paid on his investments. Is this true?”
My dear friend and brother Dr Reuben Abati, I watched you and a colleague of yours by the name of Mr Rufai Oseni, interview a young man by the name of David Hundeyin, who apparantly lives abroad and who describes himself as an “investigative journalist”, on your morning show last Tuesday.
The topic was on Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his so-called links with the drug business.
Whilst insisting that Tinubu was a drug lord, your guest did not answer the question that was put to him by Oseni.
He asked, “On Channels Television last night Femi Fani-Kayode said $1 million USD was returned to Bola Tinubu by the U.S. authorities after the investigation was completed and only $460,000 USD was seized due to tax that was not paid on his investments. Is this true?”
This was a good question which, for obvious reasons, your young guest, David, refused to answer.
He could NOT refute the assertion and the FACT that the FBI returned $1 million to Tinubu because he knew it was true.
He could not explain why only $460,000 was seized and forefeited and he refused to acknowledge that it was seized for tax reasons.
Instead, he claimed that the money that was seized was indeed drug money, which is an allegation that the Americans themselves clearly and categorically REFUTED when they were asked about the matter by the Nigerian authorities.
One Mr Bonner wrote a letter in plain English on behalf of the American Embassy in Nigeria, in which he said that Tinubu had NOT been INDICTED or CONVICTED of ANY crime.
This means that Tinubu was neither formally charged to court or convicted by any court of law for drug or drug related offences or indeed any other offence at all in America, after what I am sure was a thorough criminal investigation into the source of his funds.
He came out of it all triumphant, not wanting and in flying colours.
Thanks be to God!
Instead of rejoicing that his compatriot was declared as clean as a whistle after such a rigorous and thorough criminal investigation, people like David are still attempting to convict him for a crime he never committed in the court of public opinion 30 years later.
This is indeed a great shame. It is also a crime in itself.
They actually believe that they know better than the Federal Bureau of Investigation and that Tinubu is a dangerous criminal and drug lord, even though the Americans have said clearly and categorically that there is NO evidence to suggest that this is the case.
Investigative journalism is one thing and I commend and salute the courage of those who conduct such investigations in good faith, with an objective mind, and in earnest.
However, obsession and the obsessive persecution of an innocent man borne out of bitterness, hate and envy and couched in the cloak of investigative journalism is quite another.
