President Bola Tinubu has joined the United States Department of Justice’s request seeking an additional 10-day extension to respond to a court order concerning the release of records related to allegations of drug trafficking against him.
Von Batten-Montague-York L.C., a Washington-based lobbying
firm recently hired by former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, posted a copy of
Tinubu’s notice of joinder and shared updates on the matter.
Christopher Carmichael, one of Tinubu’s counsel, filed the
notice of joinder at the US district court on behalf of the Nigerian president.
“Intervenor joins Defendants’ motion for a 10-day extension
of time to file response to the motion for summary judgment (DE 92), in as much
as Intervenor requests that the responses remain on the same schedule.
Plaintiff opposes this request, and Defendant does not,” Tinubu’s notice of
joinder reads.
According to the US lobbying group, the judge “swiftly”
denied Tinubu’s request.
The group alleged that Tinubu “wants to use any delay to
call upon his friends in DC to argue that the release of these files would harm
U.S.-Nigeria relations”.
“We surmise that President #Tinubu wants to use any delay to
call upon his friends in DC to argue that the release of these files would harm
U.S.-Nigeria relations and undermine his ability to work with the United States
to combat terrorism and the killing of Christians in Northern Nigeria,” the
lobbying group said.
“We believe that any U.S. government personnel who
improperly attempt to interfere with the judicial or FOIA process on behalf of
#Nigerian President #Tinubu to prevent the lawful release of these records
should be exposed and fired.”
Before the publication of the notice of joinder, the
Washington-based lobbying group had published other updates on the matter.
In a post published via X on Tuesday, the lobbying group
said Jeanine Pirro, a US attorney, has initiated action in court to comply with
an order directing the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA) to release records of their investigations
into the alleged involvement of Tinubu in drug trafficking.
Von Batten-Montague-York said Pirro requested an additional
10 days, but Beryl Howell, the judge, granted only four additional days, until
August 21.
The lobbying group said the judge noted that the case had
already been pending for more than three years.
THE CASE
In 2022 and 2023, Aaron Greenspan, an American and founder
of PlainSite, filed 12 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with six
different US federal government agencies seeking information from criminal
investigations into a Chicago heroin ring that operated in the early 1990s.
Greenspan sought investigative records about four named
individuals allegedly associated with the drug ring.
The individuals are Tinubu, Lee Andrew Edwards, Mueez
Abegboyega Akande, and Abiodun Agbele.
Five of the US agencies issued Glomar responses to
Greenspan’s FOIA requests, stating that they could neither confirm nor deny the
existence of the requested records.
Dissatisfied with the responses, Greenspan approached the
department of justice’s office of information policy (OIP).
The OIP affirmed the agencies’ refusal to confirm or deny
the existence of the requested records, according to the court documents.
On June 12, 2023, Greenspan filed a lawsuit challenging the
agencies’ response to his FOIA requests. The FBI, DEA, IRS, the executive
office for United States Attorneys (EOUSA), and Department of State were
initially named as defendants.
However, the CIA was later named as a defendant in the first
amended complaint
In April 2025, Howell held that the Glomar responses issued
by the FBI and DEA were “improper and must be lifted”
The judge ruled that the FBI and DEA failed to provide
information to “establish cognizable privacy interest exists in keeping secret
the fact that Tinubu was a subject of criminal investigation”.
Howell held that the two agencies failed to provide evidence
demonstrating the burden of sustaining their Glomar responses.
The alleged drug trafficking case involving Tinubu in the US
in 1993 was one of the major issues that generated controversy in the build-up
to the 2023 elections.
In 1993, Tinubu forfeited $460,000 to the US government over
allegations linked to heroin trafficking.
The issue of Tinubu’s US forfeiture case featured
prominently in litigation arising from the 2023 presidential election.
Peter Obi, former presidential candidate of the Labour Party
(LP), and Atiku of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) argued before the
presidential election petition court (PEPC) that Tinubu ought to have been
disqualified over the 1993 civil forfeiture of $460,000 in the United States.
However, in its judgement, the PEPC held that the
petitioners failed to establish that Tinubu had been convicted for any criminal
offence in the United States.
The court also held that the forfeiture proceedings were
civil in nature.
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