₦airaland Forum

by Ayodele Oluwafemi


The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has filed a motion seeking to submit ex parte in camera declarations on why it withheld information about its investigative records relating to allegations of drug trafficking against President Bola Tinubu.

An ex parte in camera declaration is a written statement submitted solely to a judge by a party in a legal case.

In an application dated August 20, the FBI told the US district court in Columbia that it cannot publicly explain all the reasons it is withholding certain records, hence the need for an ex parte in camera declaration.

A copy of the application was published on X by Von Batten-Montague-York, a Washington-based lobbying firm recently hired by Atiku Abubakar, the former vice-president and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) for the 2027 elections.

The FBI said it has invoked various Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) exemptions against the requests for Tinubu’s records from 1992 to 1993.

The US law enforcement agency said if it acceded to the requests, it “would, among other things, disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations and/or could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual”.

Part of the FBI’s application reads: “One of the requests at issue is the request assigned Request Number 1588244-000, which sought “[t]he entire FBI file for Bola Ahmed Tinubu, DOB 3/29/1952, President-Elect of Nigeria as of February 2023”.

“Plaintiff submitted a second FOIA request to the FBI seeking “FBI 302 interviews with Bola Tinubu from FBI Case No. 245-IP-71386-UUUUUU during the timeframe 1992-1993”.

“This was assigned Request Number 1593615-000. The FBI has invoked various Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Exemptions, including 6, 7(C), 7(D), 7(E) and 7(F) regarding these requests, and determined the information withheld from Plaintiff in this case, if disclosed, would, among other things, disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations and/or could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual.

“The FBI has determined that it cannot provide on the public record the full basis for the application of Exemptions 7(E) and 7(F) to certain withholdings and that, therefore, an ex parte, under seal declaration is necessary.”

The FBI said if the court grants the permission to submit an ex parte in camera declaration, it would explain reasons for withholding certain information before August 28.

The plaintiff in the case is Aaron Greenspan, the American founder of PlainSite.

Recently, the US Department of Justice requested an additional 10-day extension to respond to a court order concerning the release of records related to allegations of drug trafficking against Tinubu.

However, Beryl Howell, the judge, granted only four additional days, until August 21.

Subsequently, Tinubu, through his legal team, joined the US DOJ’s request seeking an additional 10-day extension to respond to a court order.

Howell was said to have declined Tinubu’s request.


THE CASE

In 2022 and 2023, Greenspan filed 12 FOIA requests with six different US federal agencies seeking information from criminal investigations into a Chicago heroin ring that operated in the early 1990s.

Greenspan sought investigative records about four named individuals allegedly associated with the drug ring, including Tinubu, Lee Andrew Edwards, Mueez Abegboyega Akande, and Abiodun Agbele.

Five of the US agencies responded, saying that they could neither confirm nor deny the existence of the requested records.

Dissatisfied with the responses, Greenspan approached the US DOJ’s office of information policy (OIP).

The OIP affirmed the agencies’ refusal to confirm or deny the existence of the requested records, according to the court documents.

On June 12, 2023, Greenspan filed a lawsuit challenging the agencies’ Glomar response to his FOIA requests. A Glomar response is an official statement by a US government agency refusing to confirm or deny whether requested records exist.

The FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Executive Office for United States Attorneys (EOUSA), and Department of State were initially named as defendants.

However, the CIA was later named as a defendant in the first amended complaint.

In April 2025, Judge Howell held that the responses issued by the FBI and DEA were “improper and must be lifted”.

The judge ruled that the FBI and DEA failed to provide information to “establish cognizable privacy interest exists in keeping secret the fact that Tinubu was a subject of criminal investigation”.

Howell held that the two agencies failed to provide evidence demonstrating the burden of sustaining their Glomar responses.

MrsAyomide:
Let it endanger.

Release the damn record.!!

“would, among other things, disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations and/or could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual”.

MrsAyomide:
Let it endanger.

Release the damn record.!!

Iamcute:
Na una go put tilumbu for more trouble with the US. Your boss dey beg the US upandan saying the release go endanger him life but paid urchins like you must defend him belle at the cost of una employer

HacheNoire:
What trouble?

That we patriotic Nigerians demand that both files be released at the same time?

Why don’t find it difficult to oppose your masters and demand answers they demand from you?

Penguin2:
Oh my gosh!

What sort of dirt does the vagabond sitting in Aso Rock have that has become a fishbone in everyone’s throat like this?

I really can’t wait for him to be disgraced globally.

favor914:
Bitterness & anguish can ruin a person’s ability to reason logically.

Sorry 😐.

HacheNoire:
Bitterness is demanding answers for the innocent kids that have been abused by pedophiles without prosecution?

You just happen to have been mentally conquered and I understand your state.

favor914:
Yes o, make the FBI release the remainder of the Epstein file, make we check something about our man President Donald J Trump.

madridguy:
Everyone are just fabricating news over our darling Jagaban of universe.

Islie:
FBI to US court: Disclosing Tinubu’s records could endanger lives, reveal our techniques




https://www.thecable.ng/fbi-to-us-court-disclosing-tinubus-records-could-endanger-lives-reveal-our-techniques/

Racoon:
Festus Keyamo Defends Tinubu From Drug Trafficking, Says Tinubu Mistakenly Shared Flats With Drug Lords

The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr Festus Keyamo, has distanced the All Progressive Congress presidential candidata, Bola Tinubu, from being a drug baron who was involved in the traffic of narcotics in the United States.

Keyamo, who also doubles as APC Presidential Campaign spokesperson, noted that the former governor of Lagos State only shared a block of flat with drug barons about 30 years ago in the US.

His reaction is coming following documents of a Chicago District Court indicting and convicting Tinubu of drug dealings and money laundering in 1993.

The document which emerged online two days ago, described APC standard-bearer as a drug baron, adding that Tinubu entered a plea bargain, leading to the forfeiture of his assets to US authorities in 1993

It was also pointed out that Tinubu forfeited the sum of $460, 000 dollars in his bank account at First Heritage Bank to the US government.

Speaking on Wednesday on Channels TV, Mr Keyamo dismissed such claims, insisting that Tinubu was linked to drug peddlers who were his neighbours.

He said: “What happened was that Tinubu went to open an account. The address which he used in opening the account was the address used by these people. I think some blocks of flats. Maybe, he was happy to be in that block of flats too.

“So, they now link it that the other people they were investigating for narcotics are in the same address used by Asiwaju to open that account.’’

https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/news/313805/festus-keyamo-defends-tinubu-from-drug-trafficking-says-tin.html

 
U.S. court judgement indicts Tinubu for drug trafficking

https://www.google.com/amp/s/businessday.ng/amp/news/article/u-s-court-judgement-indicts-tinubu-for-drug-trafficking/

US Court Releases Documents Linking Tinubu to Largescale Drug Peddling


https://fij.ng/article/us-court-releases-documents-linking-tinubu-to-largescale-drug-peddling/

swaggerjack:
Reno Omokri: I Challenge Tinubu To Prove If He Was Not A Drug Lord In Chicago


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DLrnL6rQ6M?si=uMMUVFfetODTr4Fw