FBI Submits Tinubu Records to US Judge for Confidential Review
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has submitted records linked to President Bola Tinubu’s 1993 drug-trafficking and money-laundering investigation to a federal judge for confidential review.
The documents were submitted on Friday, August 28, to Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, following a court order requiring the FBI to meet a deadline in a long-running Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case.
The records have not been released to the public or provided to American transparency campaigner Aaron Greenspan, who has been seeking access to them.
According to court filings, the FBI submitted the material “under seal, ex parte, in camera,” meaning Judge Howell will examine the records privately to determine whether the bureau has legal grounds to withhold some or all of them.
The FBI had argued that publicly disclosing its full reasons for withholding parts of the records could expose sensitive law-enforcement information. It cited FOIA exemptions covering areas including personal privacy, confidential sources, investigative methods and potential threats to individual safety.
In an earlier filing, the bureau said, “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 dispute stems from records concerning investigations involving Tinubu in the United States in the early 1990s, including a 1993 civil forfeiture case in Chicago involving about $460,000. Previously released U.S. court records showed that funds linked to Tinubu were forfeited to the U.S. government.
Tinubu has denied wrongdoing and has not been criminally convicted in connection with the matter. His legal team has opposed the release of additional records, arguing that disclosure could violate his privacy rights.
Greenspan began seeking the records through FOIA requests before suing several U.S. government agencies. He pursued the matter with Nigerian journalist David Hundeyin.
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Judge Howell will now determine whether the records, or portions of them, should be released, withheld or subjected to further review.
The confidential submission does not amount to a new finding against Tinubu, and the records remain inaccessible to Greenspan and the public while the judicial review continues.
