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A U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., has ordered top American law enforcement agencies to make public certain records related to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Judge Beryl Howell gave the directive on Tuesday while ruling on a motion filed by an American citizen, Aaron Greenspan, who requested the court to reconsider an earlier decision.
Judge Howell declared that keeping the documents hidden from the public is “neither logical nor plausible.”
Greenspan had accused agencies such as the FBI and the DEA of violating the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by failing to release, within the required time, documents relating to alleged federal investigations into President Tinubu and another individual, Abiodun Agbele.
Tinubu was said to have forfeited $460,000 to the U.S. government in 1993, after investigators reportedly traced the money to proceeds from narcotics trafficking. This forfeiture was a key issue during Nigeria’s 2023 presidential election tribunal, where Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi challenged Tinubu’s eligibility. However, the court ruled unanimously in Tinubu’s favour, confirming his victory.
In Tuesday’s decision, Judge Howell ruled partly in Greenspan’s favour, criticizing the “Glomar” responses used by the FBI and DEA. These responses neither confirmed nor denied the existence of the requested records. According to the judge, the agencies failed to properly justify their decision to withhold the information.
Judge Howell noted that since it had already been publicly acknowledged that Tinubu was under investigation by both the FBI and DEA, continuing to withhold the records under FOIA exemptions “is at this point neither logical nor plausible.”
The judge further explained that FOIA rules allow a requester to challenge a Glomar response in two ways: first, by arguing that acknowledging the existence or absence of records would not cause any real harm under FOIA exemptions; and second, by proving that the agency has already publicly acknowledged the information, thereby waiving the right to keep it secret.
In this case, Greenspan used both arguments. He pointed out that the DEA had officially confirmed investigating Agbele’s involvement in a drug trafficking ring, while both the FBI and DEA had acknowledged investigations relating to Tinubu’s alleged ties to the ring. He also argued that the public’s right to know outweighed any privacy concerns Tinubu might have, and claimed that the CIA had confirmed having records related to the Nigerian president.
Judge Howell’s ruling did not fully grant Greenspan’s request, but it marked a significant step towards making previously confidential files about Tinubu’s past available to the public.
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