A federal judge in the U.S. capital has ordered the FBI and DEA to disclose files connected to a past investigation involving Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, dating back to the 1990s.
Judge Beryl Howell issued the ruling on Tuesday, rejecting the agencies’ claims that they could neither confirm nor deny the records’ existence.
The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by Aaron Greenspan in 2023 under the Freedom of Information Act.
Greenspan sought transparency from U.S. agencies including the CIA, IRS, and State Department over their past inquiries into an alleged heroin trafficking operation in which Tinubu and three others were implicated.
Greenspan’s FOIA requests, filed between 2022 and 2023, requested information on a collaborative probe by U.S. law enforcement that linked Tinubu and his associates to drug crimes.
The agencies initially issued non-committal responses, citing national security and confidentiality.
Judge Howell found these responses inadequate, stating that prior acknowledgments by the FBI and DEA about the investigation undermined their justification to withhold the documents.
The judge ruled that these agencies had effectively waived their right to secrecy regarding Tinubu and one of his alleged associates, Abiodun Agbele.
The court did not extend the same ruling to the CIA, noting that Greenspan failed to prove that the agency had ever officially confirmed or denied the presence of such files.
This legal battle revives controversy from 1993, when Tinubu allegedly surrendered $460,000 in suspected drug proceeds to U.S. authorities.
The issue resurfaced during Nigeria’s 2023 presidential election but did not derail Tinubu’s candidacy, as a Nigerian court dismissed related challenges.
Court filings reveal that Greenspan included an affidavit from a prior DEA operation involving Agbele, who reportedly linked Tinubu to illicit funds.
Investigators later discovered accounts controlled by Tinubu, suspected of facilitating money laundering.
Judge Howell’s order allows partial release of documents from the FBI and DEA, with a status update from all involved agencies expected by May 2. The CIA’s exemption remains in place for now.