Therefore Peoples Democratic Party has demanded the withdrawal of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, from the 2023 presidential race over an alleged forfeiture of $460,000 to the United States government.

The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, made the call during an interactive session, with journalists in Abuja.

A certified true copy of a settlement order issued by a court in the US on forfeiture of funds in bank accounts linked to the former Lagos State governor in 1993 surfaced on social media on Tuesday. In the document, the court declared that the said funds were proceeds of drug trafficking.

However, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, in a programme on Channels Television insisted that the funds in question were not proceeds of drug deals but tax deductions.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had also dismissed the claim on the investigation of the APC candidate over the matter.

But the major opposition party insisted that Tinubu’s alleged involvement in a criminal suit automatically disqualified him from vying for the nation’s highest political office.

According to Ologunagba, “Having been sentenced and fined by way of criminal forfeiture of $460,000 drug money in a criminal suit filed pursuant to the United States Criminal Code, Asiwaju Tinubu cannot by virtue of Section 137 (1)(d) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) seek office as President of Nigeria.

“Nigerians now know that the APC Presidential Campaign announcement that its presidential candidate will not participate in media debates is to prevent Nigerians from seeking answers from Asiwaju Tinubu with respect to the criminal forfeiture judgement as well as other burning issues to which Nigerians are entitled to know.

“Of course, our nation cannot afford the embarrassment, shame, national indignity and stigma associated with narcotics all over the world, especially in the exalted office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“What Nigerians expect of Asiwaju Tinubu at this moment is to withdraw from the presidential race and apologize to the nation. The APC must come to terms that it is not in the presidential race and that it has no legitimate candidate at all levels in the 2023 general elections as pronounced by the Federal High Court.

“The PDP, therefore, reminds Nigerians that any vote for the APC at the presidential, governorship, National and State Assembly elections are wasted votes that will not count at the end of the day.

“The PDP calls on INEC not to succumb to the blackmail of the APC but to be focused and carry out its duties in accordance with the Constitution and the Electoral Act so as the engender confidence in the citizens with respect to the integrity of those seeking public office in our country.”