President Bola Tinubu is making yet another attempt to stop the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, and other American services from divulging documents connected to him.
Peoples Gazette reports that Mr Tinubu’s attorneys in the United States have submitted applications to appear in a current freedom of information lawsuit launched against American groups that have papers that could shed light on the president’s true identity and long-running endeavours.
According to papers, Christopher Carmichael, one of the attorneys who defended Mr Tinubu in the recent Chicago records case, submitted the motion on October 18, 2023, indicating that he was qualified to participate in the FOIA litigation being litigated in Washington, D.C.
Bryan A. Carey, a lawyer in D.C., moved for the admission and pro hac vice appearance of Christopher Carmichael in the aforementioned action in accordance with Civil Local Rule 83.2(c). “The Declaration of Christopher Carmichael is in favour of this motion. He is a member in good standing who has been admitted, according to Mr. Carmichael’s declaration.
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It was unclear what motivated Mr. Tinubu’s belief that he could prevent American organisations from abiding by federal disclosure laws. Oluwole Afolabi, the president’s lead attorney in the United States, told The Gazette that he could not comment on the matter until it had formally begun. Mr. Carmichael did not immediately respond to a request for remarks. To have a chance of arguing any reliefs before the deadline of October 31, the attorneys would work to file a complete argument as soon as possible.
When The Gazette revealed on September 11 that the FBI had consented to turn over 2,500 pages of responsive information on the Nigerian leader, Mr. Tinubu became aware of the litigation. The president was previously under investigation for drug trafficking in the US in the 1990s, and as a result of a federal court ruling in Chicago, he was ordered to forfeit $460,000.
According to The Gazette, the FBI stated that it intended to provide Aaron Greenspan, the owner of PlainSite, a website that promotes anti-corruption and openness in public service, access to the documents by the end of October. The Internal Revenue Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and a number of other American organisations have all expressed a willingness to hand over thousands of pages of Bola Tinubu-related documents. Two weeks prior to Mr. Tinubu’s action, he had unsuccessfully fought to prevent Atiku Abubakar, his main political adversary in Nigeria, from having his academic records released by a federal court in Chicago. When the documents were eventually made public by the school, they revealed that a certain Bola Tinubu had been admitted to the institution in 1977.
However, the school claimed that it could not verify the credential he used to compete for office in Nigeria in June 2022 and that it could only infer, based on a brief review of documents, that its former student was the Nigerian president.
