The Federal Bureau of Investigation has asked a United States court to allow it to privately submit reasons for withholding some records linked to allegations connecting President Bola Tinubu to a drug-trafficking investigation.
In an application dated August 20 and filed before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, the FBI said it could not publicly disclose the full basis for withholding certain information.
The agency is seeking permission to file an ex parte, in camera declaration under seal, allowing it to provide the information directly to the judge without placing it on the public record.
The application was published on X on Thursday by Von Batten-Montague-York, a Washington-based lobbying firm recently hired by former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.
The case involves Freedom of Information Act requests seeking FBI records relating to Tinubu between 1992 and 1993.
According to the FBI, releasing some of the withheld information “would, among other things, disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations and/or could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual”.
Part of the FBI’s application reads: “One of the requests at issue is the request assigned Request Number 1588244-000, which sought “[t]he entire FBI file for Bola Ahmed Tinubu, DOB 3/29/1952, President-Elect of Nigeria as of February 2023”.
“Plaintiff submitted a second FOIA request to the FBI seeking “FBI 302 interviews with Bola Tinubu from FBI Case No. 245-IP-71386-UUUUUU during the timeframe 1992-1993”.
“This was assigned Request Number 1593615-000. The FBI has invoked various Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Exemptions, including 6, 7(C), 7(D), 7(E) and 7(F) regarding these requests, and determined the information withheld from Plaintiff in this case, if disclosed, would, among other things, disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations and/or could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual.
“The FBI has determined that it cannot provide on the public record the full basis for the application of Exemptions 7(E) and 7(F) to certain withholdings and that, therefore, an ex parte, under seal declaration is necessary.”
The FBI said it would submit the confidential declaration before August 28 if the court grants the request.
The plaintiff in the case is Aaron Greenspan, an American businessman and founder of PlainSite.
The latest application follows a separate request by the US Department of Justice for an additional 10-day extension to respond to a court order concerning the release of records linked to allegations involving Tinubu.
Judge Beryl Howell, however, granted only four additional days and moved the deadline to August 21.
Tinubu, through his legal team, later joined the DOJ’s request for a further 10-day extension, but Howell declined the application.
Greenspan had filed 12 FOIA requests with six US federal agencies between 2022 and 2023, seeking records from investigations into a Chicago heroin ring that operated in the early 1990s.
He requested records relating to four individuals he said were linked to the drug ring, including Tinubu, Lee Andrew Edwards, Mueez Adegboyega Akande and Abiodun Agbele.
Five of the agencies responded that they could neither confirm nor deny the existence of the requested records.
Greenspan subsequently approached the Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy, which upheld the agencies’ decision, according to court documents.
On June 12, 2023, he filed a lawsuit challenging the agencies’ use of a Glomar response, an official refusal by a US government agency to confirm or deny whether requested records exist.
The FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Internal Revenue Service, Executive Office for United States Attorneys and Department of State were initially named as defendants. The Central Intelligence Agency was later added in the first amended complaint.
In April 2025, Howell ruled that the responses issued by the FBI and DEA were “improper and must be lifted”.
The judge held that the agencies had failed to establish a sufficient privacy interest to justify keeping secret the fact that Tinubu was a subject of a criminal investigation.
Howell also ruled that the FBI and DEA had failed to provide sufficient evidence to justify maintaining their Glomar responses.
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