By Jelili Gbadamosi
President Bola Tinubu has joined the United States Department of Justice in seeking a 10-day extension to respond to a court motion seeking the release of records linked to allegations of drug trafficking.
Tinubu’s lawyers filed a notice of joinder before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, requesting that he be placed on the same schedule as the defendants in the case.
The legal filing, signed by Christopher W. Carmichael and Victor P. Henderson of Henderson Parks, LLC, asked the court to extend the deadline for responding to a motion for summary judgment.
The notice stated that Tinubu was joining the defendants’ request so that the responses would remain on the same schedule.
However, the plaintiff opposed the request, while the defendants did not. According to the U.S.-based policy firm Von Batten-Montague-York, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell subsequently denied the application for an extension.
The case, Aaron Greenspan v. Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, et al., Civil Action No. 23-1816 (BAH), concerns a request for records relating to U.S. investigations involving Tinubu and alleged drug-trafficking activities.
The policy firm, which was retained by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, subsequently accused Tinubu of attempting to delay the release of the records for political reasons. The allegation has not been established by the court.
The records sought also relate to a $460,000 asset forfeiture involving funds held in Tinubu’s name that were forfeited to the U.S. government in 1993.
Tinubu has consistently denied involvement in drug trafficking. His lawyers have maintained that the forfeiture was a civil proceeding against the money and not a criminal case against him.
They have also argued that Tinubu was never arrested, indicted, arraigned or convicted of a drug-related offence in the United States.
