The United States District Court of Columbia has declined Atiku Abubakar’s request for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to release information on President Bola Tinubu.
One Aaron Greenspan had filed the emergency motion seeking to compel the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys (“EOUSA”), the Department of State, FBI, Internal Revenue Service, Drug Enforcement Administration, and the CIA to immediately release the documents following the Nigerian Supreme Court’s hearing of appeals from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and Labour Party’s Peter Obi against Tinubu.
He pleaded for a quick release of the documents because they needed to be presented at the Supreme Court.
Greenspan told the court that the Supreme Court deliberately moved the hearing of the appeals by Atiku and Obi to October 23 to render his suit before the US court nugatory.
He had asked that the documents on Tinubu be released to him latest October 31.
In 1993, Mr Bola Tinubu was said to have forfeited $460,000 to the American government after authorities linked the funds to proceeds of narcotics trafficking.
The issue of Mr Tinubu’s forfeiture of the funds featured prominently at the Presidential Election Petition Court where Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, challenged the president’s eligibility to contest Nigeria’s presidency.
But the election court in a unanimous decision, on 6 September, dismissed the suits, affirming Mr Tinubu’s election.
Ahead of the Supreme Court’s hearing of Atiku Abubakar’s case against President Tinubu’s election on Monday in Abuja, Mr Greenspan had last Friday earnestly sought the US court’s intervention to order the FBI, the CIA, and others to fast-track the process of releasing the documents on the Nigerian leader.
A seven-member panel of the Nigerian Supreme Court on Monday heard Atiku and Peter Obi’s appeals seeking to overturn Mr Tinubu’s victory in the 25 February presidential election.
Ruling on the appeal, Judge Beryl A. Howell declined Greenspan’s request on the grounds that he failed to satisfy the relevant conditions for the grant of such a prayer contained in a motion for emergency hearing, which he filed on Monday.
In the civil suit, with number: 23-1816, Greenspan is also asking for similar information and documents on Mueez Adegboyega Akande, who is said to have died as of November 16, 2022.
In rejecting his motion for immediate release of the documents, the US court said Greenspan failed to convince the court of the public issues it could cause it to overlook the privacy rights of President Tinubu.
Meanwhile, Tinubu’s lawyers have filed a motion at the court seeking to be allowed to defend the President in the suit.
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