A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Osun State, Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, has accused opposition politicians of recycling allegations against President Bola Tinubu ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Oyintiloye, who made the allegation while speaking with journalists in Osogbo on Sunday, described claims that the United States had reopened a drug-trafficking case against Tinubu as political propaganda.

He warned opposition leaders against spreading false claims, saying there was no evidence that any United States court had reopened or ordered a criminal retrial against the President.
The former lawmaker also stated that no American judge had pronounced Tinubu guilty of drug trafficking, urging Nigerians to distinguish between allegations, investigations and criminal convictions.

According to him, “the controversy currently generating public debate concerns a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit seeking access to records held by United States law-enforcement agencies.”

He explained that the FOIA matter should not be confused with a criminal prosecution or judicial proceeding against the President.

“An FOIA case is about access to government records. It is not a criminal trial, a retrial or a judicial declaration of guilt,” Oyintiloye said.

The APC chieftain said the existence of records held by agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) or the Drug Enforcement Administration, DEA, did not, on its own, establish criminality.

He added that investigative records could contain unproven allegations, leads or information supplied by third parties without constituting proof of guilt.

Oyintiloye also referred to FOIA Exemption 7(C), which provides protection for certain law-enforcement information where disclosure could amount to an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.

He therefore urged Nigerians and the media to avoid what he called trial by document, stressing the need to establish the context and legal status of information contained in government records.

The former lawmaker said the controversy formed part of what he described as a recurring pattern of allegations against Tinubu, particularly at critical points in his political career.
He noted that the President had spent decades in Nigeria’s political space and had faced several controversies, including debates over his academic credentials during his two-term tenure as Lagos State Governor between 1999 and 2007.

Oyintiloye said similar allegations resurfaced during the 2023 presidential campaign, accusing opposition elements of recycling claims bordering on certificate forgery, criminality and drug trafficking instead of focusing on governance.

He challenged opposition politicians to present credible alternatives through policies and programmes capable of improving the lives of Nigerians.

“Privacy is not a crime. An investigation is not a conviction. A document is not automatically a fact simply because it bears the seal of a government agency,” he said.

Oyintiloye urged politicians to move beyond personality attacks and campaigns of calumny, saying Nigerians should assess political parties and candidates based on their ideas, manifestos, records and performance.

“The opposition should tell us their manifesto, not blackmail. Tell Nigerians what you have on the table and why they should vote for you,” he said.

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a convicted cocaine trafficker who disguised himself as a herbal tea merchant in Lagos.

In a statement on Sunday, the agency said the arrest occurred weeks after it intercepted a 1.2kg cocaine consignment concealed in phone chargers and destined for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at a courier company in Lagos on 31st July 2026.

“The suspect, arrested in a sting operation at Article Market, opposite Trade Fair Market, Ojo area of Lagos, on Friday, 4th September 2026, while posing as a herbal tea businessman, was identified as 34-year-old Dunu Bethel Ebubechukwu.

“In his statement, he admitted being the mastermind of some illicit drug shipments in the past while stating that he discarded his telephone SIM card once he learnt his latest consignment had been intercepted by the NDLEA,” the agency stated.

According to the NDLEA, further investigation revealed the suspect is no stranger to the agency: he was first arrested in 2011 at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Ikeja Lagos after ingesting 900 grams of cocaine and 130 grams of heroin in an attempt to fly to Austria under the name Dunu Chukwuyenre Enoch.

The agency disclosed that the suspect was prosecuted for the crime, convicted and sentenced to five years in jail, adding that he thereafter changed his name to Dunu Bethel Ebubechukwu and returned to the criminal trade.

“A search of his residence located at 6 Yemishola Street, Ejigbo, Lagos on Friday, 4th September led to the recovery of phone chargers similar to those used to conceal the intercepted cocaine, with their internal components removed to create space for drugs,” the NDLEA noted.

The NDLEA also said that, in another development, it chased down a 20,000-litre fuel tanker marked MKA 960 XC, notorious for evading arrest in the past, in Ondo on Friday after its driver refused to stop.

“The driver later abandoned the vehicle at a church premises in Ugbe Akoko and fled into the bush. A search of the tanker revealed a false compartment concealing 165 bags of cannabis weighing 2,145kg alongside its legitimate fuel cargo destined for Jos, Plateau State,” it added.