US court denies discovery request against Tinubu in FOIA lawsuit

A United States federal court has rejected a request by Aaron Greenspan seeking permission to obtain evidence from President Bola Tinubu and DCI Group over alleged cyberattacks on his website.

The US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled on October 30 that the proposed discovery was not sufficiently relevant to Greenspan’s ongoing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit involving the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

The request sought limited discovery concerning alleged cyberattacks, but the court held that the issue was not relevant to the legal questions before it in the FOIA litigation.

The ruling also dismissed a separate application by nonparty Karl Von Batten to file an amicus curiae brief, commonly known as a friend-of-the-court submission.

The court further denied Greenspan’s request for judicial notice and his motion for summary judgment.

Reacting to the decision, attorney Christopher W. Carmichael said the ruling reinforced the need to keep the FOIA proceedings focused on issues directly connected to the case.

“The Court’s decision makes clear that this Freedom of Information Act proceeding cannot be used to pursue discovery unrelated to the legal questions before it,” Carmichael said.

Another attorney, Oluwole Afolabi, said the court’s decisions established procedural boundaries for the ongoing litigation.

He noted, however, that the underlying FOIA issues remained before the court.

The statement did not indicate that the court had resolved the substantive FOIA dispute or made any finding on the allegations of cyberattacks.