US Court Rejects Emergency Request for FBI, CIA, IRS to Release Documents on Tinubu

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

The United States District Court of Columbia has declined a request to force the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to release information on President Bola Tinubu.

 Aaron Greenspan had filed the emergency motion seeking to compel the Executive Office for US Attorneys (EOUSA), the Department of State, FBI, IRS, Drug Enforcement Administration, and the CIA, to urgently release the documents following the Nigerian Supreme Court’s hearing of appeals from the Peoples Democratic Party’s (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 had told the court that Nigeria’s 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.

But ruling on the appeal, Judge Beryl A. Howell, declined Greenspan’s request on the grounds that he failed to satisfy the relevant conditions for granting  such prayer contained in the motion for emergency hearing, which he filed on Monday.

In the civil suit, with number: 23-1816, Greenspan also asked for similar information and documents on Mueez Adegboyega Akande, who was alleged 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 it of the public issues that could cause it to overlook the privacy rights of President Tinubu.

In the same manner, Tinubu’s lawyers had filed a motion at the court seeking to be allowed to defend the President in the suit.