By OUR REPORTER
It has come to our notice that President of Nigeria, Mr. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has reportedly commenced moves to block the release of his files by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the US.
The move was initiated on Wednesday, The DEFENDER gathered and our source has been further corroborated by an impeccable investigative online newspaper in Nigeria.
Reports earlier this month had it that the US intelligence agency, FBI, gave October deadline for the release of no fewer than 2,500 of the Nigerian president’s records in its database in compliance with an order of court.
Court filings, according to the Peoples Gazette, showed that 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.
On September 11, the FBI had agreed to turn over 2,500 pages of response information on the Nigerian president. 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.
