President Bola Tinubu has filed an application with a United States District Court in Washington, D.C., seeking to halt U.S. agencies from disclosing records related to his residence in the country.
The defendants named in the suit include the Executive Office for US Attorneys, US Department of State, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), US Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, US Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
The suit comes as a response to a Freedom of Information request made on July 21, 2022, by Aaron Greenspan, an IT consultant. Although the U.S. agencies had initially indicated that the records concerning President Tinubu’s residence would not be made public until 2026 due to “unusual circumstances,” the applicants have persistently pushed for an early release of the documents.
In a motion for Admission of Attorney Pro Hac Vice filed on October 18, 2023, by Brian A. Carey, Christopher Carmichael was sought to be admitted as an attorney in the matter.
It was mentioned that Carmichael is in good standing in the courts and bars of “the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, State of Illinois, the United States Courts of Appeal for the Seventh and Eighth Circuits, and the U.S. District Courts for the Northern Central and Southern Districts of Illinois.”
President Tinubu had earlier filed as an intervenor in a similar application by former Vice President and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar before another court in Illinois, USA seeking the release of his academic records from the Chicago State University (CSU).
However, Justice Nancy Maldonado overruled him and ordered the release of the documents under deposition from the institution and Atiku has since sought to tender the same before the Supreme Court in Nigeria in aid of his petition appeal over the outcome of the February 25 presidential election.