President Bola Tinubu has moved to stop the release of records relating to an alleged United States investigation into drug trafficking claims involving him, opening a fresh legal battle over long-running allegations dating back to the 1990s.
Tinubu, through his lawyers, is challenging a bid by American transparency activist, Aaron Greenspan, to compel the United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to release documents connected to investigations involving the Nigerian president.
The development emerged from a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by Greenspan, who is seeking access to the FBI’s entire file on Tinubu, including FBI Form 302 interview records covering 1992 and 1993.
The case also touches on records allegedly connected to a 1993 civil forfeiture proceeding in the United States involving approximately $460,000 linked to Tinubu.
In a 16-page court filied yesterday, Tinubu’s legal team urged the court to reject Greenspan’s request for the records, arguing that their disclosure would violate the President’s privacy rights.
The lawyers contended that the fact that some information had previously surfaced in connection with the forfeiture proceeding did not extinguish Tinubu’s privacy interest in the wider investigative files.
According to the lawyers, the records being sought could contain details of a possible criminal investigation and its outcome that have not been publicly disclosed.
They argued that the FOIA request amounted to an attempt to obtain confidential information from government files simply because Tinubu’s name appeared in them.
The legal team maintained that previous limited disclosures did not give the public unrestricted access to the entire investigative records.
They further cited decisions of the US Supreme Court and federal courts in support of their argument that individuals retain privacy interests in investigative files even where fragments of information may already have entered the public domain.
Tinubu’s lawyers therefore asked the court to uphold redactions and withholdings made by the FBI and DEA under applicable privacy and law-enforcement exemptions.
The President’s intervention follows Greenspan’s demand for broader disclosure of records from the American agencies.
His requests include FBI documents relating to Tinubu and interview records covering the period when the alleged investigation took place.
The controversy also revives scrutiny of the 1993 US civil forfeiture proceeding involving about $460,000, an issue that has featured in political and legal debates surrounding Tinubu over the years.
However, the latest court filing does not itself establish that Tinubu committed drug trafficking or any other criminal offence. Rather, the President’s lawyers are seeking to prevent the release of investigative records, arguing that disclosure would improperly invade his privacy and breach protections available under US law.
The legal battle now puts the US court at the centre of a dispute over whether records relating to the alleged investigations should remain sealed or be opened under the country’s freedom-of-information regime.
Tinubu’s lawyers urged the court to deny Greenspan’s motion for summary judgment and allow the FBI and DEA to maintain their existing redactions and withholding of documents.
The court’s eventual decision could determine whether additional records concerning the decades-old allegations become public.