The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation has asked a federal court for permission to submit a confidential declaration explaining why it withheld some records relating to allegations of drug trafficking involving President Bola Tinubu.
The request was contained in an application dated August 20 and filed before the US District Court for the District of Columbia.
The FBI said it could not disclose all the reasons for withholding certain information on the public record and therefore wants to explain its position to the judge privately.
An ex parte in camera declaration is a written submission made privately to a judge, without being placed on the public record.
The application was published on X by Von Batten-Montague-York, a Washington-based lobbying firm recently engaged by former Vice-President and African Democratic Congress presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar.
According to the FBI, the records were requested under the Freedom of Information Act by Aaron Greenspan, founder of the American website PlainSite.
One of the requests sought the FBI’s entire file on Tinubu, while another requested FBI interview records involving him from a case dating to 1992 and 1993.
The agency said it had relied on several FOIA exemptions, including provisions covering personal privacy, confidential sources, law-enforcement techniques and information whose disclosure could endanger an individual’s life or physical safety.
The FBI said it had determined that it could not publicly provide the full basis for relying on exemptions 7(E) and 7(F).
It therefore asked the court to allow it to file a declaration under seal, privately explaining the reasons for the withholding.
The agency said that, if granted permission, it would submit the declaration before August 28.
The development is the latest in a long-running legal battle over records sought by Greenspan from US government agencies concerning criminal investigations into a Chicago-based heroin network that operated in the early 1990s.
Between 2022 and 2023, Greenspan filed 12 FOIA requests with six federal agencies, seeking records concerning four individuals he said were connected to the investigation. They included Tinubu, Lee Andrew Edwards, Mueez Abegboyega Akande and Abiodun Agbele.
Five of the agencies responded with what is known as a Glomar response, meaning they declined to confirm or deny whether the requested records existed.
After challenging the responses through the US Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy, Greenspan filed a lawsuit in June 2023.
The FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Internal Revenue Service, Executive Office for United States Attorneys and Department of State were initially named as defendants, while the CIA was later added.
In April 2025, US District Judge Beryl Howell ruled that the FBI and DEA’s Glomar responses were improper and ordered that they be lifted.
Howell said the agencies had failed to establish that a recognisable privacy interest existed in concealing the fact that Tinubu had been a subject of a criminal investigation.
The latest FBI application comes amid further legal wrangling over the release of the records.
The US Department of Justice had recently sought an additional 10 days to respond to a court order concerning the documents. However, Howell granted only four additional days, setting August 21 as the deadline.
Tinubu’s legal team subsequently joined the DOJ’s request for a further 10-day extension, but the judge reportedly declined the request.
The FBI’s latest application now seeks permission to privately explain to the court why some of the records should remain withheld.
The allegations contained in the records and the ongoing court proceedings do not, by themselves, establish that Tinubu committed the alleged offences.
WARNING: If You Are Not 18+, Don’t Click The Link Below 👇🫣
Did you want to monetize your website, join MONETAG or ADSKEEPER and start earning
Please don’t forget to “Allow the notification” so you will be the first to get our gist when we publish it.
Drop your comment in the section below, and don’t forget to share the post.
Never Miss A Single News Or Gist, Kindly Join Us On WhatsApp Channel:
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vad8g81Eawdsio6INn3B
Telegram Channel:
https://t.me/gistsmateNG
