The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has asked a federal court for permission to privately explain why it withheld some investigative records relating to allegations of drug trafficking involving President Bola Tinubu.
In an application dated August 20, the FBI asked the US District Court for the District of Columbia to allow it to submit an ex parte, in camera declaration under seal.
Such a declaration is a written statement submitted privately to a judge, without being made available to the other parties or the public.
The FBI said it could not publicly disclose its full reasons for withholding certain information requested under the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
According to the application, the records relate to FOIA requests concerning Tinubu dating back to 1992 and 1993.
The FBI said it had relied on several FOIA exemptions, including exemptions 6, 7(C), 7(D), 7(E) and 7(F).
The agency argued that releasing the withheld information could reveal law-enforcement investigative techniques and procedures and could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of an individual.
“One of the requests at issue is the request assigned Request Number 1588244-000,” the FBI said, referring to a request for the “entire FBI file” on Tinubu.
A second request sought FBI 302 interview records involving Tinubu from FBI Case No. 245-IP-71386-UUUUUU during 1992 and 1993.
The FBI said it had determined that it could not provide the full basis for invoking exemptions 7(E) and 7(F) on the public record.
It therefore asked the court to permit the submission of an ex parte, in camera declaration explaining the reasons for some of the withheld information.
If the court grants the request, the FBI said it would provide the declaration before August 28.
A copy of the application was published on X by Von Batten-Montague-York, a Washington-based lobbying firm recently hired by former Vice-President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar for the 2027 election.
The plaintiff in the case is Aaron Greenspan, an American entrepreneur and founder of PlainSite.
The latest filing comes amid an ongoing legal battle over access to US government records relating to allegations surrounding Tinubu.
Recently, the US Department of Justice sought an additional 10-day extension to respond to a court order concerning the release of records linked to the allegations.
Judge Beryl Howell granted only four additional days, setting August 21 as the deadline.
Tinubu, through his legal team, subsequently joined the DOJ’s request for a further 10-day extension. Howell reportedly declined the request.
The case
Between 2022 and 2023, Greenspan filed 12 FOIA requests with six US federal agencies seeking records from criminal investigations into a Chicago heroin ring that operated in the early 1990s.
The requests sought investigative records concerning four individuals allegedly linked to the drug ring: Tinubu, Lee Andrew Edwards, Mueez Abegboyega Akande and Abiodun Agbele.
Five of the agencies responded with what is known as a Glomar response, refusing to confirm or deny whether the requested records existed.
Greenspan challenged the responses before the US Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy, but the office upheld the agencies’ position.
On June 12, 2023, he filed a lawsuit challenging the agencies’ refusal to confirm or deny the existence of the records.
The FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Executive Office for United States Attorneys (EOUSA) and Department of State were initially named as defendants. The CIA was later added in an amended complaint.
In April 2025, Judge Howell ruled that the Glomar responses issued by the FBI and DEA were improper and had to be lifted.
She found that the agencies had failed to establish a sufficient privacy interest to justify keeping secret the fact that Tinubu had been the subject of a criminal investigation.
Howell also said the FBI and DEA had not provided enough evidence to demonstrate that their Glomar responses should be sustained.
