Jimoh Ibrahim Says Tinubu, Family Face no US Movement Restrictions

Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Jimoh Ibrahim, has said President Bola Tinubu and members of his family face no movement restrictions in the United States during the 81st UN General Assembly.

Ibrahim, who also chairs the UN Committee on Budget and Administration, said the Nigerian Mission in New York had received no notification from the US government imposing any restrictions on Tinubu’s movement.

He said Section 11 of the 1947 UN-US Agreement protected representatives of UN member states and their families from impediments to transit to and from the UN headquarters district.

According to him, the provision requires US federal, state and local authorities to refrain from restricting the movement of member-state representatives, their families and other persons invited to the UN headquarters for official business.

Ibrahim’s comments followed concerns surrounding an ongoing legal dispute in the United States over access to records relating to Tinubu.

The Presidency had earlier dismissed suggestions that the President was facing a criminal case in the US, describing an ongoing Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in Washington, DC, as a civil records-disclosure case.

The Presidency said the lawsuit, filed by American transparency activist Aaron Greenspan, was not a criminal case against Tinubu and that no court had found the President guilty of criminal wrongdoing.

Ibrahim also said attendance at the UN General Assembly should ultimately be determined by national priorities, noting that more than 60 per cent of the current speaking list comprised vice presidents and foreign ministers representing their countries.

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