The Presidency has issued a response regarding reports that a U.S. federal court has directed the FBI and DEA to release records pertaining to a previous investigation involving President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Judge Beryl Howell from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia recently mandated that the FBI and DEA must search for and process relevant records related to Tinubu. This ruling came after American citizen Aaron Greenspan filed a lawsuit under the FOIA in June 2023.
The court decision highlighted that the U.S. agencies did not provide sufficient justification to withhold documents that could potentially confirm Tinubu’s involvement in an investigation in the 1990s, reportedly associated with a drug trafficking network.
It was mentioned that in 1993, Tinubu surrendered $460,000 to the U.S. government in connection with this case.
“The FBI and DEA have both officially confirmed investigations of Tinubu relating to the drug trafficking ring. Any privacy interests implicated by the FOIA requests to the FBI and DEA for records about Tinubu are overcome by the public interest in the release of such information.”
However, the Presidency has dismissed these claims, labeling them as “mischievous and politically mechanized nonsense,” aimed at distracting Nigerians ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Daniel Bwala, one of President Tinubu’s spokespersons, took to social media on Sunday, April 13, to issue a response.
He wrote on his verified X (formerly Twitter) account:
“Mischievous and politically mechanized nonsense under the guise of US Court orders FBI and DEA to act. They claim the order was given on Tuesday, but it never saw the light of the media until Sunday.
“There is nothing these opposition under the auspices of coalition for a wild goose chase cannot try to do to keep relevance.
“They went to meet @MBuhari and it was reported that he insisted the meeting be held in or on camera so that Nasir El-Rufai would not go and say Buhari is joining SDP and PDP.
“Hard as they try, they are still struggling to convince Nigerians that they have any plan at all, needless alternative plan.”
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