The United States Court for the District of Columbia in Washington D.C. has granted President Bola Tinubu’s motion to oppose the release of his records held by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Central Intelligence Agency and other top U.S. security agencies.
Judge Beryl A. Howell, on November 27, granted Mr Tinubu’s motion to intervene after deeming him to have met the four qualifying factors which include timeliness of the motion, applicant’s interest in the property which forms subject of action, “whether the applicant is so situated that the disposition of the action may as a practical matter impair or impede the applicant’s ability to protect that interest; and whether the applicant’s interest is adequately represented by existing parties.”
Adjudging Tinubu to have met the four criteria, Ms Howell permitted the Nigerian leader to step in and protect his records from being released by the U.S. security agencies in response to a freedom of information request filed by Aaron Greenspan, owner of Plainsite, a website that promotes transparency and anti-corruption in public service. Mr Greenspan worked with Nigerian journalist David Hundeyin on the FOIA request, Peoples Gazette reports.
“Tinubu’s intervention will thus have no disruptive effect, as he has intervened in time to follow any briefing schedule that will later be imposed,” Ms Howell ruled on Monday.
“Second and third, Tinubu has a cognizable interest that may be impaired because the FOIA requests at issue pertain to information about him that would implicate his privacy interests.”
“Tinubu’s motion is GRANTED,” Ms Howell said on Monday noting that the court found the motion to intervene and incorporated memorandum to have satisfied all requirements.
FBI had previously announced it would release approximately 2500 pages of information on Mr Tinubu in its database in five batches of 500 pages every month starting October, but Tinubu pleaded with the Court that he would be “adversely affected” should the records be released.
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