US Court Orders Release of FBI, DEA Files on Tinubu

A United States court has ordered the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to release documents linked to a 1990s investigation involving Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The decision was issued by Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, who ruled that the agencies’ refusal to confirm or deny the existence of such records was “neither logical nor plausible.”

The case was brought forward by Aaron Greenspan, an American who filed multiple Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests in 2022 and 2023 seeking information from six federal agencies, including the FBI, DEA, IRS, Department of State, Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, and later, the CIA. The requests focused on a federal probe into an alleged Chicago-based heroin trafficking ring and included records tied to Tinubu, Abiodun Agbele, Mueez Akande, and Lee Andrew Edwards.

All the agencies initially responded with what is known as a “Glomar response”—refusing to confirm or deny the existence of records. Greenspan appealed the denials and, after being rebuffed, filed a lawsuit in June 2023. He also requested an emergency hearing in October 2023 to compel the release of documents before the Nigerian Supreme Court was set to hear a case challenging Tinubu’s 2023 election win. That emergency motion was denied.

President Tinubu later sought to intervene in the case, arguing that his privacy rights under the Privacy Act and FOIA exemptions should protect his tax records and law enforcement files. Notably, Tinubu had previously forfeited $460,000 to the U.S. government in 1993 after the funds were linked to drug proceeds, a point that was revisited during Nigeria’s post-election legal proceedings but ultimately dismissed by the court.

In her ruling, Judge Howell found that the FBI and DEA’s Glomar responses were not properly justified, particularly because it was already acknowledged that Tinubu had been investigated. The judge noted that public interest outweighs any remaining privacy concerns and ordered the two agencies to release the requested records. However, the CIA was allowed to withhold its information, as the court found Greenspan failed to prove the agency had ever officially acknowledged the existence of such documents.

The court directed the involved agencies, except the CIA, to submit a joint report by May 2, updating the status of the case and addressing outstanding issues, now narrowed down to matters concerning Tinubu and Agbele.

Evidence submitted by Greenspan included a 1993 civil forfeiture complaint filed in Illinois, in which IRS Special Agent Kevin Moss detailed the operations of a drug ring involving Agbele and its financial connections to Tinubu. According to Moss’s affidavit, Tinubu’s bank accounts were believed to have been used for money laundering of drug proceeds, and DEA investigations revealed direct ties between the funds and the heroin distribution network in Chicago.