President Bola Tinubu has filed an application before a United States District Court of Columbia to stop the country’s agencies from releasing records related to his residence in the country.
The defendants in the suit are the Executive Office for US Attorneys, US Department of State, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), US Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, US Drug Enforcement Administration and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
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The application was brought by Tinubu as an intervenor following a Freedom of Information request dated July 21, 2022, made by an IT consultant, Aaron Greenspan.
Although the US agencies had reportedly claimed that the details of the president’s files would not be made public until 2026 for what was termed “unusual circumstances”, the applicants have continued to push for the early release of the documents.
In the motion for Admission of Attorney Pro Hac Vice dated October 18, 2023 by Brian A. Carey, sought to admit Christopher Carmichael as an attorney in the matter, adding that he is in good standing in the courts and bars of “the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, State of Illinois, the United States Courts of Appeal for the Seventh and Eighth Circuits, and the U.S. District Courts for the Northern Central and Southern Districts of Illinois.”
President Tinubu had earlier filed as an intervenor in a similar application by former Vice President and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar before another court in Illinois, USA seeking the release of his academic records from the Chicago State University (CSU).
However, Justice Nancy Maldonado overruled him and ordered the release of the documents under deposition from the institution and Atiku has since sought to tender the same before the Supreme Court in Nigeria in aid of his petition appeal over the outcome of the February 25 presidential election.
