Alleged drug trafficking: Tinubu joins US Justice Department’s request for 10-day delay in release of records

President Bola Tinubu has joined the U.S. Department of Justice’s request for a 10-day extension to respond to a motion seeking the release of records relating to allegations of drug trafficking.

Tinubu’s legal team filed a notice of joinder before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, asking to be placed on the same schedule as the defendants in the case.

The filing was published online by Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C., a U.S.-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’ motion for a 10-day extension to file a response to the 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 filing stated.

The notice was signed by Christopher W. Carmichael and Victor P. Henderson of Henderson Parks, LLC.

According to the filing, the plaintiff opposed the extension request, while the defendant did not.

However, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell subsequently denied the request for an extension, according to the lobbying firm.

In a post on X, Von Batten-Montague-York accused Tinubu of seeking to use the delay to exert political influence in Washington.

The firm alleged that Tinubu could use the additional time to lobby U.S. officials against the release of the records on the grounds that their disclosure could affect U.S.-Nigeria relations and his cooperation with the United States on security matters.

It also warned against what it described as attempts by U.S. government officials to interfere with the judicial or Freedom of Information Act process.

The case, Aaron Greenspan v. Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, et al., Civil Action No. 23-1816 (BAH), has been pending for more than three years.

The records sought in the case relate to U.S. investigations and allegations concerning Tinubu and suspected drug-trafficking activities.

Previous reports have linked a $460,000 asset forfeiture involving Tinubu to a U.S. federal investigation into a Chicago-based heroin-trafficking network in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Court records and affidavits from U.S. authorities have been cited in connection with the forfeiture proceedings.

In 1993, a U.S. District Court ordered the forfeiture of $460,000 held in an account in Tinubu’s name to the U.S. government. The order stated that the funds represented proceeds of narcotics trafficking or were involved in transactions violating money-laundering laws.

Tinubu has consistently denied 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 rather than a criminal case against Tinubu.

They have also argued that he was never arrested, indicted, arraigned or convicted of a drug offence in the United States.