A US court’s judge, Beryl Howell, made the order to compel the FBI and DEA to release investigative records on Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, saying that protecting the information from public disclosure is “neither logical nor plausible”, which has significant implications for transparency and accountability in governance. The documents in question relate to allegations of Tinubu’s involvement in a narcotics ring in the 1990s, which have been a subject of controversy and speculation. As the US agencies prepare to disclose the records, this development raises important questions about the intersection of politics, law enforcement, and international relations.

The United States District Court for the District of Columbia has mandated that several top U.S. law enforcement agencies release confidential information about President Bola Tinubu, generated during a reported federal investigation in the 1990s.

Judge Beryl Howell issued the order on Tuesday, stating that withholding the information from public disclosure was “neither logical nor plausible.”

The order resulted from a lawsuit filed in June 2023 by American citizen Aaron Greenspan, under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), against the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, the Department of State, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

In his complaint, Mr. Greenspan alleged that the law enforcement agencies violated the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by not releasing, within the legally required timeframe, documents related to reported federal investigations concerning President Tinubu and Abiodun Agbele.

Between 2022 and 2023, Mr. Greenspan submitted 12 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to six different U.S. government agencies and components, seeking information about a joint investigation conducted by the FBI, IRS, DEA, and the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Northern District of Indiana and the Northern District of Illinois.

Mr. Greenspan stated that the requested records pertained to charging decisions related to the activities, including money laundering, of a Chicago heroin ring operating in the early 1990s.

In each Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, Mr. Greenspan sought criminal investigative records concerning four individuals: Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Lee Andrew Edwards, Mueez Abegboyega Akande, and Abiodun Agbele, who were “allegedly associated with the drug ring.

In response, all five U.S. agencies issued “Glomar responses,” declining to either confirm or deny the existence of the requested records.

Mr. Greenspan challenged these responses at the Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy (OIP). However, the OIP upheld the agencies’ decision to neither confirm nor deny the existence of the requested records.

On June 12, 2023, Mr. Greenspan filed a lawsuit against the FBI, DEA, IRS, Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys (EOUSA), and the Department of State, challenging each agency’s response to his separate Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

Court documents indicate that the CIA was subsequently added as a defendant in the First Amended Complaint, along with a challenge to that agency’s Glomar response to Mr. Greenspan’s FOIA request.

On October 20, 2023, Mr. Greenspan filed an emergency motion seeking a hearing to compel the U.S. agencies to immediately produce records responsive to his FOIA requests. He cited the impending Nigerian Supreme Court hearing, scheduled to begin in three days, regarding litigation contesting Mr Tinubu’s 2023 presidential election in Nigeria.

Three days later, on October 23, 2023, Mr. Greenspan’s emergency motion was denied for failing to “satisfy any of the requirements for emergency injunctive relief.

Also on October 23, 2023, President Tinubu moved to intervene in the case, citing his privacy interests in his “confidential tax records” and “documents from federal law enforcement agencies that fall within the Privacy Act or exceptions to FOIA and should not be disclosed.

In 1993, Mr. Tinubu reportedly forfeited $460,000 to the U.S. government after authorities linked the funds to proceeds from narcotics trafficking.

The forfeiture of these funds became a significant point of contention during the Presidential Election Petition Court proceedings in Nigeria, where his opponents, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, challenged Mr. Tinubu’s eligibility to contest the presidency. However, the election court unanimously dismissed these suits, affirming Mr. Tinubu’s election.

On Tuesday, Judge Howell issued a partial ruling in favor of Mr. Greenspan in the U.S. case.

The judge determined that the “Glomar” responses asserted by the FBI and DEA were “improper and must be lifted.” He stated that the FBI and DEA had failed to demonstrate that they properly invoked the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Judge Howell argued that since it was acknowledged that Mr Tinubu was the subject of an investigation involving both the FBI and DEA, “the claim that the Glomar responses were necessary to protect this information from public disclosure is at this point neither logical nor plausible.