A United States District Court in Columbia has directed the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to release documents connected to a criminal investigation involving President Bola Tinubu and alleged drug trafficking activities.
The ruling, delivered on April 8 by Judge Beryl Howell, mandates both agencies to search for and process any non-exempt materials in response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests filed by American transparency advocate Aaron Greenspan.
Greenspan, the founder of PlainSite—a platform promoting legal transparency—submitted 12 FOIA applications between 2022 and 2023.
His requests centered on a drug trafficking network that reportedly operated out of Chicago in the early 1990s and included names such as Tinubu, Lee Andrew Edwards, Mueez Abegboyega Akande, and Abiodun Agbele.
Until the ruling, the FBI and DEA had issued what is known as “Glomar responses,” essentially declining to confirm or deny whether any such records existed. However, the court determined that such responses were unwarranted in this context.
The court ruled that:
“The FBI and DEA have both officially confirmed investigations of Tinubu relating to the drug trafficking ring.”
It further stated:
“Any privacy interests implicated by the FOIA requests to the FBI and DEA for records about Tinubu are overcome by the public interest in release of such information.”
“Since the FBI and DEA have provided no information to establish that a cognizable privacy interest exists in keeping secret the fact that Tinubu was a subject of criminal investigation.”
“They have failed to meet their burden to sustain their Glomar responses and provide an additional reason why these responses must be lifted.”
Although Greenspan also submitted a similar request to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the court upheld the CIA’s refusal after Greenspan acknowledged the agency had already admitted to the existence of relevant documents.
The judgment concluded:
“For the reasons discussed above, plaintiff is entitled to summary judgment as to each of the four Glomar responses asserted by defendants FBI and DEA, while defendant CIA is entitled to summary judgment, since its Glomar response was properly asserted.”
“Accordingly, the FBI and DEA must search for and process non-exempt records responsive to the FOIA requests directed to these agencies.”
“The CIA, meanwhile, is entitled to judgment in its favour in this case. The remaining parties are directed to file jointly, by May 2, 2025, a report on the status of any outstanding issues in this case, as described in the accompanying order.”
The outcome could pave the way for public access to previously undisclosed details about Tinubu’s past in the U.S., depending on what the FBI and DEA records reveal.
