By The administration of incoming president Bola Tinubu, who forfeited $460,000 to the US government in 1993 for offences involving drug trafficking and money laundering, puts Nigeria at risk of being labeled a state sponsor of narcotics under the Kingpin Act 1999.
To combat worldwide drug trafficking and inflict penalties on “major foreign narcotics traffickers” and “entities” deemed responsible for the financial crime, the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act was created in 1999.The Act forbids traffickers and their enterprises from profiting from the American financial system after they have been recognized.
According to Abdul Mahmud, a lawyer who is familiar with U.S. law, Section 1904 of The Act only applies to foreign individuals or businesses and does not recognize a nation or state as a “foreign entity.
“According to the Act’s definition, a “foreign entity” is any company, enterprise, business, partnership, joint venture, etc., Mr. Mahmud told The Gazette.Since Section 1907 clearly stipulates that a foreign person does not include a foreign state, technically speaking, no direct action under the Act can be conducted against a national state, he continued.
