The United States District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C, has set a new date to forge ahead with a motion to release or withhold President Bola Tinubu’s records by its security agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Recall that anti-corruption campaigner Aaron Greenspan liaised with Nigerian journalist David Hundeyin in 2022 to submit a FOIA request for the FBI to release Tinubu’s case files under their control, especuially his role in a narcotics-trafficking ordeal that made him forfeit $460,000 to the U.S. government in 1993.
Also, the files were expected to clarify decades-long controversies regarding in respect of Tinubu’s background, including his name, age and gender under which he entered the United States.
In September 2023, the FBI granted Greenspan’s request to release Mr Tinubu’s records, approximately 2500 pages which the agency promised to release in monthly batches of 500 pages and later scheduled for October 2023.
Meanwhile, Tinubu resisted the move as he pleaded with the court that he would be greatly affected if the files were made public.
Greenspan’s efforts to fast track the release of the FBI files before the Nigerian Supreme Court could pass a judgment on the electoral dispute challenging Tinubu’s victory yielded no result.
In November 2023, Judge Beryl Howell allowed Tinubu to step in and prevent his records from being released, saying he had a right to safeguard his interest given his claim that he would be “adversely affected.”
Meanwhile, on June 6, 2024 Ms Howell asked the opposing parties (Messrs Greenspan and Tinubu) to present a joint status report latest September 3 to further the matter.
Howell said: “Upon consideration of the parties’ joint status report, directing the parties to submit another joint status report by September 3, 2024, advising the court whether any disputes remain between the parties, and if so, proposing a schedule to govern further proceedings.”