Tinubu Moves to Delay Release of US Records on Drug Allegations
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has joined the US Department of Justice in asking a federal court for more time to respond to a request seeking the release of records linked to allegations of drug trafficking.
Tinubu’s legal team filed a notice of joinder before the US District Court for the District of Columbia, asking to be placed on the same timetable as the defendants in the case.
The lawyers joined a request for a 10-day extension to respond to a motion for summary judgment.
In the filing, Tinubu’s lawyers said they wanted their response to remain on the same schedule as that of the other defendants.
The notice was signed by Christopher W. Carmichael and Victor P. Henderson of Henderson Parks, LLC.
The plaintiff opposed the request, while the defendant did not object. However, US District Judge Beryl Howell later denied the application for the extension.
According to Von Batten-Montague-York, a US-based policy advisory and lobbying firm retained by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
The firm subsequently alleged in a post on X that the requested delay could have given Tinubu additional time to lobby US officials against the release of the records.
It further claimed that the records could become relevant to discussions involving US-Nigeria relations and Tinubu’s cooperation with Washington on security matters.
The claims by the lobbying firm have not been independently established.
The development is part of the case, Aaron Greenspan v. Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, et al., Civil Action No. 23-1816 (BAH), which has been pending before the US District Court for more than three years.
The records being sought concern US investigations and allegations relating to Tinubu and suspected drug-trafficking activities.
The case has also revived attention to a 1993 US forfeiture proceeding involving $460,000 held in an account in Tinubu’s name.
A US District Court ordered the money forfeited to the US government, stating that the funds represented proceeds of narcotics trafficking or were involved in transactions that violated money-laundering laws.
Tinubu has consistently denied wrongdoing and rejected allegations that he was involved in drug trafficking.
His lawyers have maintained that the forfeiture proceeding was a civil action against the money rather than a criminal case against Tinubu.
They have also argued that he was never arrested, indicted, arraigned or convicted of a drug offence in the United States.
The latest court development centres on the release of the records and does not amount to a criminal conviction or finding of guilt against Tinubu.
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