ABUJA, Nigeria – The Nigerian presidency has played down the recent ruling by a US federal court ordering the release of investigative files connected to President Bola Tinubu, insisting that the documents in question are decades old and contain no new or incriminating information.
In a statement issued on Sunday, April 13, 2025, Bayo Onanuga, the special adviser on information and strategy to President Tinubu, addressed the ruling delivered on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, by Judge Beryl A. Howell of the United States District Court in the District of Columbia.
Onanuga emphasized that the investigative reports from the FBI and the DEA, which date back to the 1990s, have already been in the public domain for over 30 years and did not implicate the Nigerian leader in any criminal activities.
“There is nothing new to be revealed,” Onanuga wrote in his post on X.
“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.”
The response comes after heightened public interest in the US court’s partial granting of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by American transparency activist Aaron Greenspan.
The court ruled that the FBI and DEA must release previously withheld records regarding an investigation into a 1990s heroin trafficking and money laundering operation in Chicago, allegedly involving Tinubu.
The court also determined that the FBI and DEA could no longer rely on their “Glomar” responses, which had previously refused to confirm or deny the existence of the records.
In her ruling, Judge Howell noted that the existence of such investigative records had already been acknowledged in a 1993 civil forfeiture case, which resulted in the forfeiture of funds from Tinubu’s US bank accounts.
The judge ruled that this prior disclosure nullified the grounds for secrecy that the FBI and DEA had invoked for decades.
Despite this, Onanuga maintained that the matter had been long settled and that no new evidence had emerged to challenge Tinubu’s legal or political standing.
“The lawyers are examining the ruling,” Onanuga added.
The court also ruled that the CIA could maintain its Glomar response, allowing the agency to continue withholding information that could jeopardise national security.
While the FBI and DEA are now required to process and release any responsive records, the presidency’s stance remains that the documents are unrelated to any criminal conviction and contain no evidence of wrongdoing.
As the case continues to unfold, the parties involved have until May 2, 2025, to report on their next steps.
