‘I wasn’t paid to post that, in cash, kernel or otherwise,’ as UberFacts defends attacks from Tinubu camp over leaked court papers on drug dealing

Camp and supporters of the president-elect, Bola Tinubu have attacked an online fact verification and information company, UberFacts for publishing court papers relating to the drug dealings of their principal by a United States court, Monday.

This is also as the online fact-finding platform has defended itself for publishing the court documents, saying it’s action was not induced by money from the opposition in Nigeria.

Following the official release of the documents detailing court proceeding in the forfeiture of $460, 000 in 1993 belonging to Tinubu to the Chicago, Illinois treasury, which the American court had ruled were proceeds from a heroin trafficking by the president-elect, the online proceeded to publish the papers as editorial content, Monday.

The sum is part of a plea bargain entered into by Tinubu with the State of Chicago for the latter to avoid serving prison time in the U.S.

However, the publication did not go well with the Tinubu camp, as they have accused the owner of the UberFacts, Kris Sanchez, of being paid to publish the documents, even as the company maintains its innocence, claiming that the documents were made public by the Chicago, Illinois court.

UberFacts, an online web service and application provides people with random facts. Its owner Kris Sanchez, receives the facts through research from books, science articles, the news, and more.

It would be recalled that among the prayers filed by the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Dr Peter Obi, in his petition at the Presidential Elections Petition Tribunal in Abuja is the request for the court to disqualify Tinubu over his hard drug trafficking conviction by a United States court.

Meanwhile, Tinubu has consistently informed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in his affidavits to stand for election that he had no prior criminal convictions.

The U.S District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, last Saturday, released fresh documents holding Bola Tinubu’s encounter with American authorities over allegations of narcotics trafficking and money laundering.

Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress and former Lagos governor, has come under intense public ridicule and political onslaught for his role in an early 1990s drug trafficking case in Chicago.

The 56-page document released by the district court’s headquarters in Chicago did not include crucial new details, but it further confirmed snippets of the matter that had been shared spontaneously by the media for years.

The latest certified copies of the court case, obtained on August 10, showed Tinubu and two others named K.O. Tinubu and Alhaji Mogati were involved in banking proceeds of illicit drugs and money laundering with Heritage Bank and Citibank.

It was not immediately clear whether or not ‘Alhaji Mogati’ was a misspelling of Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji, Tinubu’s foster mother, who passed on in 2013.

The U.S. government had in July 1993 sought forfeiture of proceeds of narcotics Tinubu was accused of laundering. The matter was resolved in a compromise between the suspects and the U.S. authorities, with the former being asked to keep the money in the Heritage Bank account while the $460,000 in the Citibank account was forfeited.

A federal judge subsequently dismissed the matter with prejudice on September 21, 1993, which effectively foreclosed the matter from being litigated again by all parties. It, however, remained unclear whether or not Nigerian authorities could still bring charges against Tinubu over the same case in Nigerian courts.

However, the publication of parts of the documents by UberFacts has irked the supporters and aides of Tinubu who now accuse the company of collecting money from the opposition to publish the court papers, Monday.

Reacting to the accusations, the company, Monday, first responded via a post, by stating:

“For clarification, the source was United States Court documents which are public records and available in their entirety here: uberfacts.wiki/41foet7”

On accusations of collecting money, the company replied through its owner, Kris Sanchez, said:

“And no I wasn’t paid to post that, in cash, kernel or otherwise.”

Uber Facts, with a reported 13.5 million global audience; audience, posted the story on Sunday with the headline; “In 1993, Tinubu surrendered $460,000 to the US government after Chicago court found the income came from heroin trafficking”

The publication by the online facts platform also means an affirmation of the criminal charges on Tinubu which, by extension, further hurts his case before the Elections Tribunal in Abuja.

Tinubu’s charges before the U.S court include: Money laundering (18 U.S.C. § 1956); Using funds from unlawful activity (18 U.S.C. § 1957); Bank fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1344); Failure to file tax returns; Lying to federal agents; and Conspiracy.