US court rejects bid to question Tinubu over alleged cyberattacks in FOIA suit

A United States federal court has rejected a request by American transparency activist Aaron Greenspan to question President Bola Tinubu and lobbying firm DCI Group over alleged cyberattacks on his website, in an ongoing lawsuit seeking government records relating to the Nigerian president, Premium Times reports.

In a ruling on Friday, the US District Court for the District of Columbia held that the proposed discovery was not sufficiently relevant to the underlying Freedom of Information Act case involving the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The court also rejected Greenspan’s motion for summary judgment, a request by non-party Karl Von Batten to file an amicus brief, and Greenspan’s request for judicial notice.

Greenspan had asked in September to put four questions to Tinubu over alleged denial-of-service attacks on his legal research website, PlainSite. However, his filing did not establish that Tinubu or DCI Group carried out the attacks, and Tinubu argued there was “no independent verification” of them.

Tinubu’s lawyers, Christopher Carmichael and Oluwole Afolabi, said the ruling reinforced the need to keep proceedings focused on the legal issues before the court. “This Freedom of Information Act proceeding cannot be used to pursue discovery unrelated to the legal questions before it,” Carmichael said.

The underlying dispute continues, as the FBI submitted records to Judge Beryl Howell under seal on August 28, with the court yet to decide whether the agencies may withhold or redact them.