Olusegun Ariyo
The United States District Court for the District of Columbia has ordered the Federal Bureau of Intelligence (FBI) to make information about President Bola Tinubu public.
Judge Beryl Howell gave the order on Tuesday.
The development was sequel to a motion by Aaron Greenspan, an American who is seeking a reconsideration of an earlier ruling.
Howell said protecting the information from public disclosure is “neither logical nor plausible”.
Greenspan had accused the FBI of violating the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by failing to release within the statutory time “documents relating to purported federal investigations into” Tinubu and one Abiodun Agbele.
Tinubu was alleged to have forfeited $460,000 to the US government in 1993 after authorities linked the funds to proceeds of narcotics trafficking.
Recall that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party and Labour Party candidate Peter Obi had challenged Tinubu’s eligibility to contest Nigeria’s presidency at the Presidential Election Petition Court.
Then the issue of Tinubu’s forfeiture of the funds featured prominently, but the election court dismissed the suits and affirmed Tinubu’s election.
However, on Tuesday, Judge Howell ruled partly in favour of Greenspan.
The judge said that the FBI and DEA failed to show that they properly invoked the FOIA.
