President Bola Tinubu has filed a motion to stop the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and other federal agencies from releasing documents relating to him.
Recall that the FBI had said it was planning to release confidential documents relating to President Tinubu in their databases before the end of October to Aaron Greenspan, the proprietor of PlainSite, a website that pushes anti-corruption and transparency in public service.
According to Daily Times Nigeria, one of Tinubu’s lawyers in the United States, Bryan A. Carey filed the motion dated Monday, October 23, 2023, to stop the two federal agencies from releasing some confidential information to the public.
Tinubu’s lawyer informed the court that the defendants, the FBI and IRS, didn’t have his interests in mind because the documents requested by the plaintiff, Greenspan, included the President’s private documents, some of which are protected by the law.
Specifically, Tinubu pleaded that he would be “adversely affected” should the U.S. Court for the Northern District of Columbia in Washington D.C. deny his motion to intervene in the matter.
“Mr Tinubu should be allowed to intervene because he has a direct interest in the records sought, his interests are not fully represented or protected by defendants, and his interests will be adversely affected if he is not permitted to intervene,” Carey said.
The lawyer also asked the court for a 30-day period to review all the files to ensure that his client’s private and legally protected documents were not disclosed.
Tinubu’s move came weeks after he lost a fierce battle to block a federal court in Chicago from releasing his academic records to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
