President Bola Tinubu has moved to block records relating to him from being disclosed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency and other United States agencies, according to a Peoples Gazette report.
It was reported in September that from October, the FBI would start releasing approximately 2,500 documents relating to President Tinubu in its database.
According to The Gazette, Christopher Carmichael, one of the lawyers who represented Mr Tinubu in the recent controversial academic record case, filed motions to appear in an ongoing freedom of information action brought against the U.S. organisations where records that may help answer questions about the president’s real identity and decades-long endeavours are domiciled.
The lawyer brought his motion in accordance with Civil Local Rule 83.2(c).
Peoples Gazette reports that Mr Bryan A. Carey, who practises 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.”
Mr Carmichael did not respond immediately to a request for comment, and the president’s lead lawyer in the United States, Oluwole Afolabi, told The Gazette that he could not comment on the matter until it had formally begun.
The lawyers would work to file a thorough argument as soon as possible in order to argue any reliefs before the October 31 deadline.
The FBI had said it was planning to release the record before the end of October to Aaron Greenspan, the proprietor of PlainSite, a website that pushes anti-corruption and transparency in public service.
Several other U.S. institutions, including the U.S. State Department, Internal Revenue Service, and Drug Enforcement Administration, have all indicated readiness to turn over thousands of pages of records related to Tinubu.
President Tinubu recently lost an emergency appeal to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago to stop Chicago State University from releasing his academic records to Atiku Abubakar, his opponent in the 2023 presidential election.
In her ruling on Tinubu’s emergency application in case No. 23 CV 05099, Judge Nancy L. Maldonado overruled “President Tinubu’s objections to Magistrate Judge Gilbert’s recommended ruling, and therefore adopts the ruling in full”.
SaharaReporters reported on September 23 that Tinubu appealed against the ruling of Judge Jeffrey T. Gilbert, sitting at the United States’ District Court of Northern Illinois which ordered the Chicago State University (CSU) to release all relevant records pertaining to him to Nigeria’s former Vice President, Atiku.
SaharaReporters had reported how the federal court in Chicago, while ruling on the civil case filed by Atiku granted the applicant’s request to the court, stating that the former Vice President had been able to sufficiently satisfy the purpose for seeking the records.
Tinubu subsequently pleaded with Judge Nancy Maldonado to block all other details, especially the gender and admission records, among others of the owner of the certificate.
SaharaReporters had reported that Atiku brought the case before the court in an effort to establish that Tinubu was not eligible to be Nigerian president despite his election in February 2023 and that he tendered a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
INEC had declared Tinubu as the winner of the election, saying Atiku of the Peoples Democratic Party came second and Peter Obi of the Labour Party came third.
In the judgment obtained by SaharaReporters, Justice Maldonado ruled, “For the foregoing reasons, the Court overrules President Tinubu’s objections to Magistrate Judge Gilbert’s recommended ruling, and therefore adopts the ruling in full.
“Mr. Abubakar’s Application is therefore granted. In light of the pending Supreme Court of Nigeria deadline, represented to the Court as October 5, 2023, and based on CSU’s representations that it is ready to comply with the discovery requests and produce a witness, the Court sets an expedited schedule for completion of discovery.”
Justice Maldonado therefore directed CSU “to produce all relevant and non-privileged documents in response to Requests for Production Nos. 1 through 4 (as narrowed by Judge Gilbert and adopted here) in Mr. Abubakar’s subpoena, by 12:00 p.m. (noon) CDT, on Monday, October 2, 2023. The Rule 30(b)(6) deposition of CSU’s corporate designee must be completed by 5:00 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, October 3, 2023”.
“Given the October 5, 2023, filing deadline before the Supreme Court of Nigeria, the Court will not extend or modify these deadlines,” she added.
The ruling titled Memorandum Opinion and Order also read, “Atiku Abubakar initiated this action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1782, a federal statute that allows a federal district court to order a person or entity within the district to produce documents or testimony for use in a foreign legal proceeding.
“Mr. Abubakar is a former Vice President of Nigeria and was a candidate for president in Nigeria’s February 2023 presidential election. Mr. Abubakar seeks an order under 28 US.C. § 1782 directing Chicago State University (“CSU), which is located in this district, to produce certain documents and testimony related to Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the declared winner of the February 2023 Nigerian presidential election.
“Mr. Abubakar has challenged the validity of President Tinubu’s election in Nigerian courts on a number of grounds, including a claim that President Tinubu submitted a forged diploma to the Nigerian Independent National Electoral Commission (“INEC) stating that he graduated from CSU.
“Mr. Abubakar contends the fraudulent submission would have disqualified President Tinubu from participating in the election, and he therefore seeks records and testimony from CSU related to President Tinubu’s diploma, and his graduation from CSU, to support Mr. Abubakar’s challenge to the election results.”
