The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has asked a United States court for permission to submit confidential declarations explaining why it withheld some investigative records relating to allegations of drug trafficking involving President Bola Tinubu.

In an application filed on August 20 before the US District Court for the District of Columbia, the FBI said it could not disclose publicly all the reasons behind its decision to withhold the records.

The agency therefore asked the court to allow it to file an ex parte, in camera declaration — a written submission made privately to the judge and not placed on the public record.

The FBI said releasing the withheld information could expose law-enforcement techniques and procedures and potentially endanger the lives or physical safety of individuals.

The application was published on X by Von Batten-Montague-York, a Washington-based lobbying firm recently engaged by African Democratic Congress (ADC) Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

According to the FBI, the records are the subject of two Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

The first request, assigned number 1588244-000, sought the “entire FBI file” on Tinubu, identified in the request as Nigeria’s president-elect as of February 2023.

The second request, assigned number 1593615-000, sought FBI Form 302 interview records involving Tinubu from FBI Case No. 245-IP-71386-UUUUUU during 1992 and 1993.

The FBI said it had invoked several FOIA exemptions, including exemptions 6, 7(C), 7(D), 7(E) and 7(F), to justify withholding portions of the requested records.

It said disclosure could, among other things, reveal investigative techniques and procedures or reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of an individual.

The agency further told the court that it could not provide the full basis for invoking exemptions 7(E) and 7(F) on the public record.

It consequently asked for permission to submit an additional declaration under seal to explain its position to the judge.

The FBI said that, if granted permission, it would file the confidential declaration before August 28.

The plaintiff in the case is Aaron Greenspan, founder of PlainSite, who has pursued records concerning investigations into a Chicago heroin trafficking operation from the early 1990s.

Between 2022 and 2023, Greenspan filed 12 FOIA requests with six US federal agencies, seeking records concerning criminal investigations involving four individuals, including Tinubu, Lee Andrew Edwards, Mueez Abegboyega Akande and Abiodun Agbele.

Five of the agencies initially responded that they could neither confirm nor deny whether the requested records existed.

Greenspan challenged the responses before the US Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy (OIP), which upheld the agencies’ positions.

He subsequently filed a lawsuit on June 12, 2023, challenging what is known under US law as a Glomar response — an agency’s refusal to confirm or deny the existence of requested records.

The FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), 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 should be lifted.

Howell held that the agencies had failed to establish that a legally recognisable privacy interest existed in keeping secret the fact that Tinubu had been a subject of a criminal investigation.

The judge also said the agencies had failed to provide sufficient evidence to justify maintaining their refusal to confirm or deny the existence of the records.

The latest development comes after the US Department of Justice sought an additional 10 days to respond to a court order concerning the release of records related to the allegations involving Tinubu.

Howell granted only a four-day extension, moving the deadline to August 21.

Tinubu, through his legal team, subsequently joined the DOJ’s request for the additional 10-day extension, but Howell reportedly declined the request.

The FBI’s latest application now seeks to provide the judge privately with further reasons why some of the records should remain withheld, particularly where disclosure, according to the agency, could reveal sensitive investigative methods or put individuals at risk. (Daily Trust)

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