illegal operation of 16 separate foreign accounts. Appropriation of Lagos funds in buying shares in Econet In January 2009, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission cleared Tinubu and governors James Ibori of Delta State and Obong Victor Attah of Akwa Ibom State of charges of conspiracy, money laundering, abuse of office and official corruption in relation to a sale of Vmobile network shares in 2004. In March 2009, there were reports that a plot had been identified to kill Tinubu. The Alliance for Democracy called on the Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro, to conduct a thorough investigation. In September 2009, however, there were reports that the British Metropolitan Police were investigating a transaction in which the Lagos State government made an investment in Econet (now Airtel). Tinubu said the transaction was straightforward and profitable to the state, with no intermediaries involved. The Federal Government rejected a request by Britain to release evidence needed for further investigation and prosecution of the three Nigerian ex-governors in a London court. Political godfatherism and hooliganism in Lagos state Tinubu has been widely perceived as the "Godfather of Lagos". His role in pulling the strings of the mega city-state was exposed in The Lion of Bourdillon, a 2015 documentary film highlighting Tinubu's political and financial grip on the city-state. Tinubu filed a ₦150 billion libel suit against the producers, AIT, and the documentary stopped airing on 6 March 2015. Nonetheless, antecedents such as his overbearingness on successors such as in December 2009, when there were reports that Fashola and Tinubu had fallen out over the issue of Fashola's re-election in 2011, with Tinubu preferring the commissioner for environment, Muiz Banire. And a similar scuffle in 2015, over Fashola's successor pitting Tinubu against him who threw his full weight behind Akinwunmi Ambode, who later succeeded Fashola and was himself ousted from office by Tinubu replacing him with incumbent Babajide Sanwo-Olu. Use of bullion vans to influence elections in Lagos state During the 2019 election, a bullion van was seen entering Tinubu's residence on Bourdillion Road in Ikoyi, with Tinubu claiming "I keep money anywhere I want". Politics In 2006, Tinubu worked on convincing the erstwhile Vice President of Nigeria Atiku Abubakar to become the flagbearer of his party, the Action Congress. Atiku who was a member of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) then had fallen out with his principal at that time Olusegun Obasanjo over