A request for the expeditious release of President Bola Tinubu’s private documents has been turned down by an American federal judge.
Together with Nigerian journalist David Hundeyin, transparency campaigner Aaron Greenspan requested the documents, which were gathered by US law enforcement organizations such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
In his request, he asked Judge Beryl Howell to issue an urgent order requiring the FBI, State Department, and other U.S. agencies to turn up the documents right away. The records were supposed to be released by the end of October.
However, Mr. Greenspan’s motion was dismissed by Judge Howell, who decided that he had not provided sufficient justification for his urgent hearing request.
“The plaintiff has been denied their emergency motion for a hearing to compel the production of documents immediately,” Ms. Howell stated.
The documents might be very confidential and sensitive, she added, and Mr. Tinubu hasn’t had a chance to defend his privacy rights in them.
Although the judge has not yet made a decision on the president’s request to intervene in the case, she granted Mr. Tinubu’s request to have his attorney, Christopher Carmichael, appear in court.
The government will not take a stance on whether Mr. Tinubu should join the case, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, which was represented by Matthew Graves.
Remember that the FBI declared in September that it would abide by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and begin releasing Tinubu’s information in batches of 500 pages beginning in October. But Tinubu submitted a move on Monday to prevent the disclosure of his data.
According to Tinubu’s move, the defendants in the case do not “fully represent or protect” his interests, despite the fact that he has a “direct interest” in the data that are sought after. In addition, Tinubu’s interests will be “adversely affected,” according to the motion, if he cannot interfere.
Tinubu responded in a similar manner when Atiku Abubakar, his principal political rival, requested his academic transcripts from Chicago State University. Atiku eventually received access to the records, despite the Nigerian leader’s best efforts to prevent their dissemination. Apart from being accused of drug dealing and submitting falsified documents to INEC, the Nigerian electoral agency, Tinubu is also facing accusations of being a citizen of Guinea.
