Tinubu Joins US Request For More Time To Release Records On Drug Trafficking Allegations

President Bola Tinubu has aligned with a motion put forward by the United States Department of Justice seeking a ten-day extension to address a court mandate concerning the public disclosure of files associated with historical drug-trafficking inquiries.

Insights into this development were shared on Tuesday via social media by Von Batten-Montague-York, a Washington-based advisory and lobbying entity engaged by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

The firm indicated that the US Justice Department initially moved in federal court to request the additional ten days.

Nevertheless, the US District Court for the District of Columbia rejected the full duration requested, opting instead to grant a condensed four-day extension while firmly maintaining August 21 as the mandatory compliance target.

Shortly afterward, the lobbying organization published documentation revealing that the president’s legal representatives formally joined the Justice Department’s bid for extra time.

Within the rejoinder submitted to the US District Court, Mr. Tinubu’s counsel sought synchronization of the response schedule alongside the primary defendants.

The filed notice stated, “Intervenor joins Defendants’ motion for a 10-day extension of time to file response to the motion for summary judgment (DE 92), in as much as Intervenor requests that the responses remain on the same schedule.”

Despite these appeals, District Judge Beryl Howell declined the expanded ten-day buffer, preserving August 21 as the rigid deadline for both the American government and President Tinubu to file their responses, as detailed by Premium Times and The Guardian Nigeria.

Atiku’s lobbying representatives characterized Mr. Tinubu’s application as a calculated delay tactic meant to leverage political clout within Washington.

The firm asserted that Tinubu “wanted to use any delay to call upon his friends in DC to argue that the release of these files would harm US-Nigeria relations” while jeopardizing collaborative efforts directed at countering “terrorism and the killing of Christians in Northern Nigeria.”

The organization further emphasized, “We believe that any U.S. government personnel who improperly attempt to interfere with the judicial or FOIA process on behalf of #Nigerian President #Tinubu to prevent the lawful release of these records should be exposed and fired.”