A United States District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington D.C, has denied a request for an urgent release of President Bola Tinubu’s confidential records compiled by American law enforcement authorities.
An American transparency activist, Aaron Greenspan, had filed a motion to order the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and other U.S. bodies to immediately turn over records they scheduled for release before the end of October.
Greenspan filed the emergency request after Tinubu deployed lawyers to fight against the release, saying it would violate his privacy, among other statutory rights.
He said Tinubu was trying to stall the release of the documents to foreclose any impact the disclosures may have on the ongoing election dispute at the Nigerian Supreme Court.
But in a ruling on Monday, Judge Beryl Howell denied the hearing to compel the immediate release of the documents, saying that no hearing to determine the merits of the motion is necessary.
Judge Howell, in her decision, said Greenspan did not adequately justify his request for an urgent hearing on his motion for expedited release of records, especially against the need to protect Tinubu’s interest.
She ruled: “Plaintiff has not made any representation to the court that the balance of equities tips in his favour or that the granting of his motion would further the public interest.
“Given that the FOIA request is for records that, if any exist, may be of a highly sensitive and private nature and that the subject of those documents, Bola A. Tinubu, has had no opportunity to protect his privacy interests in any such records, the balance of equities militates strongly in favour of denying this emergency motion.
“Plaintiff’s emergency motion for a hearing to compel immediate document production is denied. No hearing to determine the merits of this motion is necessary.”
The judge also approved President Tinubu’s request to allow his lawyer, Christopher Carmichael, to appear in the case.
However, she has yet to rule on the President’s motion to intervene in the matter.
Earlier, the U.S. Department of Justice, represented by Matthew Graves, had said the government would not be taking any position as to whether Tinubu should join the case or not.
