U.S. Court Orders Disclosure of Tinubu Drug Probe Records.

A federal judge has mandated the release of potentially sensitive documents regarding a 1990s narcotics investigation allegedly involving Nigerian President Bola Tinubu. 

In a Tuesday ruling, District Judge Beryl Howell of the District of Columbia found the FBI and DEA's "neither confirm nor deny" response insufficient under U.S. freedom of information laws. The records, tagged as a “Glomar response,” were “neither logical nor plausible.”

The federal court's decision stems from a 2022 Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by U.S. transparency activist Aaron Greenspan. Through his platform PlainSite, Greenspan sought records from multiple government agencies regarding:

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)

Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

Department of State

Executive Office of the President

U.S. authorities reportedly investigated Nigerian President Bola Tinubu and associate Abiodun Agbele in connection with an alleged Chicago-based heroin trafficking network during the early 1990s.

Despite activist Aaron Greenspan submitting twelve separate Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests between 2022 and 2023 seeking related documents, all six agencies involved—including the FBI, DEA, IRS, CIA, State Department, and White House—denied his applications.

In response, Greenspan initiated legal proceedings in June 2023 to challenge the agencies' refusal to disclose the records.

He argued that Tinubu and Agbele had been officially acknowledged as subjects of investigations and that the public interest outweighed any privacy concerns. “The plaintiffs’ argument [is] that (1) DEA has officially confirmed investigations of Agbele… (2) the FBI and DEA have both officially confirmed investigations of Tinubu… [and] (3) any privacy interests… are overcome by public interest,” the ruling noted.

Judge Howell partially granted Greenspan’s request, noting the FBI and DEA had already confirmed Tinubu’s connection to the case. “The claim that the Glomar responses were necessary to protect this information… is at this point neither logical nor plausible,” she ruled.

However, the court sided with the CIA, finding Greenspan failed to demonstrate the agency had formally acknowledged possessing relevant records.

The ruling revives scrutiny of Tinubu’s history in the U.S., including his 1993 forfeiture of $460,000 tied to narcotics investigations—though he faced no criminal charges. Court filings reference a 1993 U.S. DOJ forfeiture complaint and an IRS affidavit detailing the probe:

Tinubu’s legal team sought to block document releases, invoking privacy protections for tax records. Nigeria’s Supreme Court previously ruled (2023) that the forfeiture case didn’t bar him from presidential eligibility.