President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has asked a US federal court to grant a 10-day extension for him and other defendants to respond to a motion seeking the release of records linked to allegations of drug trafficking.
Tinubu’s legal team filed a notice of joinder before the US District Court for the District of Columbia, indicating that the President wanted to be placed on the same schedule as the defendants in the case.
The filing was made in the case of Aaron Greenspan v. Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, et al., Civil Action No. 23-1816 (BAH), which has been pending for more than three years.
The document was published online by Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C., a US-based policy advisory and lobbying firm retained by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
In the notice, Tinubu’s lawyers said they were joining the defendants’ request for additional time to respond to a motion for summary judgment.
“Intervenor joins Defendants’ motion for a 10-day extension of time to file response to the motion for summary judgment (DE 92), inasmuch as Intervenor requests that the responses remain on the same schedule,” the lawyers stated.
The notice was signed by Christopher W. Carmichael and Victor P. Henderson of Henderson Parks, LLC.
The filing indicated that the plaintiff opposed the request, while the defendant did not.
However, according to the lobbying firm, US District Judge Beryl Howell subsequently denied the application for the 10-day extension.
In a post on X, the firm alleged that the requested delay could have provided Tinubu with additional time to lobby US officials against the release of the records.
It further claimed that the records could become relevant to discussions concerning US-Nigeria relations and Tinubu’s cooperation with Washington on security matters.
The firm also raised concerns over what it described as possible attempts by US government officials to influence the judicial or Freedom of Information Act process.
The records being sought in the lawsuit reportedly relate to US investigations and allegations concerning Tinubu and suspected drug-trafficking activities.
The controversy is linked to a longstanding US investigation and a 1993 forfeiture order involving $460,000 held in an account in Tinubu’s name.
Previous reports have connected the forfeiture to a US federal investigation into a Chicago-based heroin-trafficking network that operated in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Court records and affidavits from US authorities have been cited in reports concerning the forfeiture proceedings.
In 1993, a US District Court ordered that the $460,000 be forfeited to the US government, stating that the funds represented proceeds of narcotics trafficking or were involved in transactions that violated money-laundering laws.
Tinubu has consistently denied any wrongdoing and rejected allegations that he was involved in drug trafficking.
His lawyers have maintained that the forfeiture proceeding was an in rem civil action against the money and not a criminal prosecution against Tinubu.
They have also argued that the President was never arrested, indicted, arraigned or convicted of a drug-related offence in the United States.
