A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Babatunde Ogala, said last night that the investigative report which the United States District Court ordered the FBI to release was already in the public domain.
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The court made the order based on a Freedom of Information (FoI) request by an American, Aaron Greenspan.
Greenspan sought documents relating to purported federal investigations into President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and one Abiodun Agbele.
Ogala, who is familiar with the U.S. case, said: “That is a matter that has long been concluded. It’s just a sensational issue in the media for now.
“In 2003, Greenspan came up with this application. I happened to have been in the picture then. The FBI, CIA, and DEA were all joined in this action to supply details of reports of whatever investigation they had conducted on the President.
“There was a matter that was long concluded in Chicago where the President was found not to have been liable for any offence.
“However, certain funds — $460,000 — were said to have passed through him, and that sum was long forfeited.
“Note that the order of forfeiture was against the funds, not the President as an individual. It was against the assets. That concluded the matter.
“This report, which was the result of an FBI investigation, had long been released since 2003.
“It was even used in the 2023 election petitions. The Court of Appeal held that the report was not a conviction.
“So, regarding the latest order for the papers to be released — they had already been released. It’s an old matter. An old, settled story.
“If indeed the President had been indicted, would he have been allowed to enter the U.S. subsequently?
“This is a country that went after the President of another country — Panama’s — and got him to trial.
“And here was one, who, even without immunity, was entering that country as frequently as he wished. So, it is a non-issue. It’s just sensationalism.
“Of course, we know the season we’re in, with all those who are ganging up against the President now digging up old stories and old issues to try to discredit him.”
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