Tinubu, Nigeria’s Number One Public Officer, Moves To Block FBI, CIA, From Releasing His Records

President Bola Tinubu, the number one public officer in Nigeria, has again embarked on moves to block the unveiling of his records as he commences moves to stop the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency and other United States services from releasing his files.

 

Court filings according to the Peoples Gazette, showed Mr Tinubu’s lawyers in the US have filed motions to appear in an ongoing freedom of information action lodged against the US organisations where records that may help answer questions about his real identity and decades-long endeavours are kept.

Christopher Carmichael, one of the lawyers who represented Mr Tinubu in the recent Chicago records case, filed the motion, dated October 18, 2023, stating that he was a lawyer in good standing to appear in the case in the FOIA lawsuit underway in Washington D.C., filings said.

“Pursuant to Civil Local Rule 83.2(c), Bryan A. Carey moves for the admission and appearance of attorney Christopher Carmichael pro hac vice in the above-entitled action,” Mr Carey, who practices in D.C., said on Mr Carmichael’s behalf. “This motion is supported by the Declaration of Christopher Carmichael. As set forth in Mr. Carmichael’s declaration, he is admitted and an active member in good standing.”

Though, what informed Mr Tinubu’s expectation that he could block US agencies from complying with federal disclosure regulations remained unclear.

Mr Carmichael did not immediately return a request seeking comments, and the president’s lead lawyer in the US, Oluwole Afolabi, told The Gazette he could not comment on the case until it has officially commenced.

The lawyers would work to file a full argument soonest in order to stand a chance of being able to argue any reliefs before the October 31 deadline.

Tinubu was previously investigated for narcotics trafficking in the US in the 1990s, during which he was compelled to forfeit $460,000 via a federal court order in Chicago.

The FBI had agreed to release the records before the end of October to Aaron Greenspan, the proprietor of PlainSite, a website that pushes anti-corruption and transparency in public service.

Several other U.S. institutions, including the U.S. State Department, Internal Revenue Service, and Drug Enforcement Administration, have all indicated readiness to turn over thousands of pages of Bola Tinubu-related records.