In a significant legal development, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has scored a major procedural victory in a United States federal court.
The United States District Court for the District of Columbia rejected a series of applications brought by transparency activist Aaron Greenspan and lobbyist Karl Von Batten, handing an immediate setback to the litigants.
The court denied Greenspan’s motion for limited discovery and subpoenas regarding unrelated cyberattack allegations, ruling them disproportionate to the core Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit concerning historical records from agencies like the FBI and DEA.
The judge emphasized that FOIA proceedings cannot be weaponized for outside discovery.
Also, Von Batten’s bid to file an amicus curiae brief and Greenspan’s further motions for summary judgment were rejected.
Nigerian presidential aide Bayo Onanuga and Tinubu’s legal counsel, including Christopher W. Carmichael and Oluwole Afolabi, welcomed the decision for keeping the litigation focused.
Experts note the ruling effectively shields Tinubu from attempts to expand the case with secondary accusations while the main FOIA dispute continues.
The court decision represents a procedural setback for Greenspan and Von Batten, while providing immediate legal relief for President Tinubu and DCI Group from the proposed discovery exercise.
However, the distinction is important, the ruling does not constitute a final determination of the underlying FOIA dispute, nor does the rejection of the discovery application establish that the cyberattack allegations were false.
For President Tinubu, the immediate significance is that the court has declined to permit the proposed expansion of the litigation into discovery involving him and DCI Group.
