The Presidency, Sunday, reacted speedily to viral reports that a United States District Court has issued a directive to US law enforcement agencies to release alleged confidential information generated on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Several Nigerian newspapers, including some online news platforms, had reported that the US District Court had ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, and the Drug Enforcement Administration, DEA, to release records relating to the criminal investigation of President Bola Tinubu over alleged drug trafficking.
But reacting to the report, and according to Daily Trust, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, declared categorically that the information being sought did not indict President Tinubu.
Onanuga said there was nothing new in the report by Agent Moss of the FBI, and the DEA report which, he insisted, had been in the public domain for more than 30 years.
“Journalists have sought the Presidency’s reaction to the ruling last Tuesday by a Washington DC judge ordering the US FBI and DEA to release reports connected with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” Daily Trust quoted Onanuga as saying.
“There is nothing new to be revealed. The report by Agent Moss of the FBI and the DEA report have been in the public space for more than 30 years. The reports did not indict the Nigerian leader. The lawyers are examining the ruling.”
On Sunday, reports had emanated to the effect that a United States District Court in Columbia had ordered the FBI and the DEA to release records relating to the criminal investigation of President Bola Tinubu over alleged drug trafficking.
According to the report referencing the court’s website, Judge Beryl Howell had, in a ruling dated April 8, 2025, directed both agencies to search for and process non-exempt records tied to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests filed by American researcher and founder of legal transparency platform, PlainSite, Aaron Greenspan.
Greenspan, continued the reports, had submitted 12 FOIA requests between 2022 and 2023, seeking information on a Chicago drug ring that operated in the early 1990s.
The requests included records on Tinubu and three others: Lee Andrew Edwards, Mueez Abegboyega Akande, and Abiodun Agbele.
The FBI and DEA had previously issued “Glomar responses”—a refusal to confirm or deny the existence of requested records—but the court ruled that such responses were improper in this case.
The FBI and DEA have now been ordered to conduct a search and release non-exempt materials, while the parties are to report back to the court on the case’s status by May 2, 2025.
“The FBI and DEA have both officially confirmed investigations of Tinubu relating to the drug trafficking ring,’ the judgment read.
“Any privacy interests implicated by the FOIA requests to the FBI and DEA for records about Tinubu are overcome by the public interest in release of such information.
“Since the FBI and DEA have provided no information to establish that a cognizable privacy interest exists in keeping secret the fact that Tinubu was a subject of criminal investigation.
“They have failed to meet their burden to sustain their Glomar responses and provide an additional reason why these responses must be lifted.”
The court upheld the CIA’s Glomar response after Greenspan conceded that the agency had acknowledged the existence of responsive records.
“For the reasons discussed above,” the judge ruled, “plaintiff is entitled to summary judgment as to each of the four Glomar responses asserted by defendants FBI and DEA, while defendant CIA is entitled to summary judgment, since its Glomar response was properly asserted.
“Accordingly, the FBI and DEA must search for and process non-exempt records responsive to the FOIA requests directed to these agencies.
“The CIA, meanwhile, is entitled to judgment in its favour in this case. The remaining parties are directed to file jointly, by May 2, 2025, a report on the status of any outstanding issues in this case, as described in the accompanying order.”
