The Federal Government of Nigeria on Sunday reacted to reports stating that the United States District Court had ordered top anti-drug agencies to release confidential information on President Bola Tinubu regarding a “purported federal investigation in the 1990s.”
The reaction was contained in a statement on Sunday by Bayo Onanuga, Tinubu’s spokesperson, following widespread reports on the US court order.
As reported by Premium Times, an American citizen, Aaron Greenspan, filed a suit in June 2023 under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) against the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, Department of State, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Mr. Greenspan allegedly accused the law enforcement agencies of violating FOIA by failing to release, within the statutory timeframe, “documents relating to purported federal investigations into President Tinubu and one Abiodun Agbele.
All five US agencies listed in the matter were said to have refused to confirm or deny whether the requested records exist.
On Tuesday, US Judge Beryl Howell reportedly ruled partly in favor of Mr. Greenspan.
The judge noted that the “‘Glomar responses’ asserted by the FBI and DEA are improper and must be lifted.”
According to the report, the case occurred amid the election court cases challenging Mr. Tinubu’s 2023 election as President of Nigeria.
The US judge reportedly held that the FBI and DEA failed to show that they properly invoked FOIA exemptions.
FG Reacts
- Reacting to the development, Onanuga emphasized that the case involving Tinubu in the US had been in the public domain for three decades.
He stated via Facebook:
“Journalists have sought the President’s reaction to the ruling last Tuesday by a Washington, D.C. judge ordering the US FBI and DEA to release reports connected with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“Our response is as follows:
“There is nothing new to be revealed. The report by Agent Moss of the FBI and the DEA report have been in the public space for more than 30 years. The reports did not indict the Nigerian leader.”
He added that Federal Government lawyers are examining the ruling.
Backstory
Recall that petitioners, including the legal team of Peter Obi, had alleged before the Presidential Election Petition Court in 2023 that Tinubu should be disqualified from his election victory over a United States District Court judgment, which allegedly forced him to forfeit $460,000 suspected to be proceeds of drug trafficking.
This issue was debated by the legal teams of the relevant parties and was eventually struck out by the Tribunal.
The litigation went up to the Supreme Court, where Tinubu was proclaimed the authentic winner of the presidential polls, with the apex court judges aligning with the submissions of Tinubu’s legal team and dismissing petitioners case for lacking in merit.
