Tinubu Request For 10-Day Delay In Release Of Records On Drug-Trafficking Allegations, Gives Reasons
According to Vanguard News reports, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has formally joined a request by the United States Department of Justice seeking a 10-day extension to respond to a legal application concerning the release of records connected to allegations of drug trafficking.
The request was made through Tinubu’s legal representatives in a notice of joiner filed before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The filing seeks to place the President’s response on the same schedule as that of the U.S. government in the ongoing case.
The case, Aaron Greenspan v. Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, Civil Action No. 23-1816 (BAH), has been pending for more than three years and involves efforts to obtain records relating to past U.S. investigations and allegations associated with Tinubu.
In the filing, Tinubu’s lawyers indicated that he was joining the defendants’ request for an additional 10 days to respond to a motion for summary judgment. The filing stated that the plaintiff opposed the extension, while the defendant did not oppose it.
However, according to the report, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell subsequently denied the request for an extension.
The development was publicised by Von Batten-Montague-York, a U.S.-based policy advisory and lobbying firm retained by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. The firm alleged that the requested delay could provide an opportunity for political intervention in Washington.
The lobbying group claimed that Tinubu could seek to persuade U.S. officials that releasing the records would negatively affect relations between Nigeria and the United States, particularly cooperation on security and counter-terrorism matters. These claims were made by the lobbying firm and have not been established as facts by the court.
The dispute centres on records connected to historical U.S. investigations involving Tinubu and alleged narcotics proceeds. According to documents referenced in the report, U.S. authorities investigated a Chicago-based heroin trafficking operation during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The report further stated that U.S. authorities had investigated funds held in accounts associated with Tinubu and that, in 1993, a U.S. District Court ordered the forfeiture of $460,000 held in an account in his name.
Tinubu has consistently denied involvement in drug trafficking and has rejected allegations of wrongdoing. His lawyers have maintained that the forfeiture proceeding was a civil case against the money involved rather than a criminal prosecution against Tinubu personally.
They have also argued that Tinubu was never arrested, indicted, arraigned or criminally convicted of a drug-related offence in the United States.
The latest development therefore concerns the release of historical records and the legal process surrounding their disclosure, rather than a new criminal charge against the Nigerian president.
COURTESY: Dollarsmania
