The retired Nigerian Army Major General, Danjuma Hamisu Ali-Keffi, has alleged that two prominent members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) secretly sought confidential records on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu from United States government agencies.
Ali-Keffi, a former General Officer Commanding (GOC) 1 Division of the Nigerian Army, made the claim while speaking about the events that shaped Tinubu’s emergence as the APC presidential candidate.
According to him, the alleged attempt was brought to his attention by former Director of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Modibbo Hamman-Tukur.
The retired general said the incident happened during the period when powerful figures within the APC were struggling to determine who would secure the party’s ticket for the 2023 presidential election.
Ali-Keffi said the information came to him while he was serving as Commander of Operation Service Wide, an operation he described as being focused on terrorism financing and the leadership structures of terrorist organisations.
He explained that Hamman-Tukur later told him about an alleged move by two influential APC figures who were opposed to Tinubu’s presidential ambition.
According to Ali-Keffi, the individuals allegedly gained access to the office of the NFIU director without authorisation and sent requests to American government agencies for information concerning Tinubu.
“Two prominent APC people who were against Tinubu entered illegally into the office of NFIU director and sent messages to the US government agencies requesting confidential records of Bola Ahmed Tinubu on those issues – terrorism financing,” Ali-Keffi said.
The retired military officer said the former NFIU director was uncomfortable with the development.
He claimed Hamman-Tukur later went to his office at about 2am after becoming aware of what was happening.
According to Ali-Keffi, the people allegedly involved realised that the NFIU director had arrived and subsequently left the office.
Ali-Keffi further claimed that a response was later received from the United States concerning the request.
He, however, said he was not aware of the exact information contained in the response.
“I don’t know what the record is or related to current issues regarding his forfeiture and other issues, if I am not mistaken,” he said.
The former army commander was careful to distinguish between the alleged request for information and any conclusion about Tinubu.
He said he had no personal knowledge of the contents of the records allegedly requested from the US authorities.
He also did not claim that the records established that Tinubu committed any offence.
Instead, he said his account was based on information he received from Hamman-Tukur at the time.
Ali-Keffi also alleged that NFIU officials connected to the incident were later dismissed. He said the matter eventually became the subject of legal proceedings.
The retired general further brought former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, into the account.
Ali-Keffi alleged that El-Rufai was aware of some of the information relating to the request for Tinubu’s records.
He said the former Kaduna governor was among the political figures who had knowledge of the matter but did not support the idea of using confidential information against Tinubu.
Tinubu eventually defeated other contenders at the APC presidential primary in June 2022.
He went on to defeat Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party in the February 2023 presidential election.
Ali-Keffi said his own decision to support Tinubu at the time was influenced partly by El-Rufai’s argument that power should move from the North to the South.
He recalled that the argument was based on the need to maintain a sense of balance and national unity after former President Muhammadu Buhari, a northerner, had completed his second term.
The retired general said the political situation could have been different if the alleged information obtained from the United States had been made public before the APC primary.
“Had people like the former NFIU Director and people like El-Rufai who were in the know, who were aware of that documents that were sent in respect of candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu, had they allowed it to get to public domain at that time, I believe it would have perhaps hurt the candidaty of Ahmed Bola Tinubu. Certainly, he wouldn’t have gotten the ticket to fly the flag of APC at that time,” Ali-Keffi said.
Several prominent politicians had shown interest in the APC presidential ticket before Tinubu eventually emerged as the party’s candidate.
Ali-Keffi said those considerations played an important role in the eventual decision by some politicians to back Tinubu.
He also recounted a separate conversation involving former Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) chairman, Muhammad Nami, and an unnamed powerful minister who was said to have been close to Buhari.
According to Ali-Keffi, Nami approached the minister during the United Nations General Assembly in New York in an effort to persuade him to support Tinubu.
The retired general said the minister expressed reservations about Tinubu and warned that he could take action against some people if he eventually became president.
“Look, Ahmed Tinubu is going to come after them. He was going to do this and that. You people don’t know this,” Ali-Keffi recalled the minister as saying.
Nami, according to Ali-Keffi, continued to make the case for a Southern presidency and argued that handing the APC ticket to a Southern candidate would promote national balance.
However, years after the 2023 election, Ali-Keffi said he now regrets his decision to support Tinubu.
“I regret actually voting for him,” he said.
He also stated that he would not vote for the ruling party in the next election.
“I’m not going to vote APC next election,” Ali-Keffi said.
In a related development, POLITICS NIGERIA reported in August that fresh controversy had emerged over Tinubu’s academic credentials.
This came after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) explained why his primary and secondary school certificates were not included among the documents displayed for the 2027 election.
The commission said it displayed the documents submitted by candidates and did not have the authority to demand additional credentials or alter the information contained in their submissions.
