TINUBU Vs FBI: The Secret Files, Court Battle & What They Don’t Want You To See - Politics - Nairaland
Nairaland Forum › Nairaland General › Politics › TINUBU Vs FBI: The Secret Files, Court Battle & What They Don’t Want You To See (559 Views)
| TINUBU Vs FBI: The Secret Files, Court Battle & What They Don’t Want You To See by ProfesawFred(op): 3:34am On Aug 30 |
By Prof. Fred — Writer, Political Analyst & Social Commentator A fresh development has emerged in the long-running legal battle over US government records relating to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Tinubu has reportedly asked a United States federal court to prevent the public release of records held by American law-enforcement agencies, including the FBI and DEA, concerning historical investigations involving him. The request was made in a 16-page filing submitted in an ongoing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit. The case was initiated by American transparency activist Aaron Greenspan, who has been seeking records from US government agencies relating to investigations involving Tinubu dating back to the 1990s. The records sought include FBI and DEA materials connected to those historical investigations. The FBI has opposed the release of some of the records. The bureau has argued that revealing certain information could expose sensitive law-enforcement information and potentially put individuals at risk. It has therefore asked the court to allow some of its explanations and supporting material to be considered privately. Tinubu has now formally intervened in the case. His lawyers are asking the court to reject the request for the release of unredacted records, arguing that the documents are protected by privacy provisions under US law and that there is insufficient public interest to justify releasing the information. The latest development is that the FBI has submitted disputed records to US District Judge Beryl Howell for private judicial review. This is an important distinction: the records have not been released publicly. Claims circulating on social media that the FBI has already released Tinubu's complete files therefore need to be treated with caution. The controversy has its roots in events from the 1990s, including a 1993 US civil-forfeiture case involving approximately $460,000 connected to accounts associated with Tinubu. However, readers should distinguish between an investigation, allegations, civil proceedings and a criminal conviction. The existence of an investigation or the withholding of records does not, by itself, establish that a person committed a crime. The current legal battle is essentially about whether additional government records should be released under the US Freedom of Information Act and whether certain information should remain protected under applicable exemptions and privacy laws. The case has attracted considerable attention in Nigeria because the documents being sought relate to a period in Tinubu's past that has been the subject of political controversy for years. For now, the most important question is what Judge Beryl Howell will ultimately decide after reviewing the disputed material. Will the court order the release of more records? Will some of the documents remain sealed or redacted? And what, if anything, will the records reveal? Those questions remain unanswered. What is your opinion? Should Tinubu's FBI and DEA records be made public in the interest of transparency, or should his privacy be protected? YES or NO — and why? Let's hear your views in the comments. 👇 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXvYGdxn1Ps?si=Hb6umqdwJqJmN8UD |
| Re: TINUBU Vs FBI: The Secret Files, Court Battle & What They Don’t Want You To See by ProfesawFred(op): 3:36am On Aug 30 |
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| Re: TINUBU Vs FBI: The Secret Files, Court Battle & What They Don’t Want You To See by HacheNoire: 4:14am On Aug 30 |
What we are more interested to see is the Epstein files! Tinubu’s case was concluded decades ago and the records will make no impact because same US court of law did not convict him of any crime. Many young children were abused by Epstein and his gang and it’s sad that no one has been prosecuted. Nigeria and the world demand answers? |
| Re: TINUBU Vs FBI: The Secret Files, Court Battle & What They Don’t Want You To See by ProfesawFred(op): 4:53am On Aug 30 |
HacheNoire:I agree with you, but for me personally I think he should be transparent and allow them to release his records |
| Re: TINUBU Vs FBI: The Secret Files, Court Battle & What They Don’t Want You To See by HacheNoire: 4:56am On Aug 30*. Modified: 10:11am On Aug 30 |
ProfesawFred:The same country that wants to release his records should lead by example. If the Epstein and His Excellency, President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (GCFR) records can be released on the same day, I am all in for it. |
| Re: TINUBU Vs FBI: The Secret Files, Court Battle & What They Don’t Want You To See by princepee(m): 5:38am On Aug 30 |
HacheNoire:you and who are the Nigeria that is demanding Epstein record ?If you are interested in Epstein record you should apply for that. |
| Re: TINUBU Vs FBI: The Secret Files, Court Battle & What They Don’t Want You To See by Newsmills: 5:42am On Aug 30 |
I know the wife of Mr President might be a repentant baroness and now a pastor,history haunting or a haunting history,and the son is traversing the entire political space galvanising support for his father-drug baron-President,no shamefacedness,your successes in Nigeria is not measured with good names,drug barons and baronesses,ritualists,bunkerers are title holders are the most blessed. |
| Re: TINUBU Vs FBI: The Secret Files, Court Battle & What They Don’t Want You To See by CharlesCNG: 7:11am On Aug 30 |
ProfesawFred:THE AMAZING FUGITIVE WHO KEPT RETURNING TO AMERICA: TINUBU'S “ESCAPE FROM THE US” STORY MEETS A CALENDAR By CharlesCNG Professor Fred has introduced us to perhaps the most relaxed fugitive in American history. According to his YouTube narration, Bola Tinubu was arrested and investigated in America, then somehow “managed to escape and return back to Nigeria.” There is one tiny problem. Apparently, nobody remembered to tell America that Tinubu had escaped. Let us begin with something stronger than partisan argument. In 2003, following inquiries from Nigeria, a U.S. Consulate response based on an FBI National Crime Information Center check reportedly found nothing indicating that Tinubu had ever been arrested or was wanted for a crime in the United States. That does NOT mean there was no investigation. We now know there was. It means “investigated” and “arrested fugitive” are two completely different English expressions. Then our fugitive apparently developed a strange hobby: RETURNING TO AMERICA. In January 2009, Tinubu travelled to Washington during Barack Obama's inauguration. In 2012, he spent roughly a week in the United States, with documented engagements in WASHINGTON, CHICAGO and CHARLOTTE. He delivered a lecture at the Wilson Center. He participated in events in Chicago. He attended the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. Apparently America's fugitive desk was on lunch break for the entire trip. Then came September 2023. Tinubu flew openly into NEW YORK as President of Nigeria for the United Nations General Assembly. Not through a bush path. Not disguised as someone's hand luggage. He addressed the UN General Assembly and held meetings in New York. Still no handcuffs. Still no U.S. marshal shouting: “STOP THAT MAN! HE ESCAPED IN 1993!” And then comes my favourite. August 2025. The Nigerian Presidency officially announced Tinubu's arrival in Brazil and stated that he had flown there from LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES. So let us review our extraordinary fugitive: 1993: supposedly escapes America. 2003: FBI-related criminal-record check reportedly finds no record that he was arrested or wanted. 2009: Washington. 2012: Washington. 2012: Chicago. 2012: Charlotte. 2023: New York. 2025: Los Angeles. At some point we must ask: WHAT EXACTLY DOES “ESCAPE” MEAN IN THIS STORY? Because fugitives normally avoid the jurisdiction from which they supposedly escaped. This particular fugitive appears to collect American cities. And the legal history makes the story even more difficult. Yes, Tinubu was one subject of a wider American narcotics-related investigation. Yes, $460,000 connected with an account in his name was forfeited in a 1993 CIVIL forfeiture proceeding. Yes, FBI and DEA records relating to that investigation exist. Those are uncomfortable facts. They should not be denied. But none of them automatically creates an arrest. None establishes a criminal prosecution. None produces a criminal conviction. And none proves an escape from American custody. In 2023, Peter Obi and the Labour Party placed the American forfeiture documents before Nigeria's Presidential Election Petition Court and attempted to use them to establish a criminal conviction capable of disqualifying Tinubu. The tribunal rejected that argument, holding that no U.S. criminal arrest, charge, trial or conviction against Tinubu had been established. Then came the part that should not disappear from the story. OBI APPEALED. ATIKU APPEALED. On October 26, 2023, a seven-member panel of the SUPREME COURT unanimously dismissed the presidential-election appeals and affirmed Tinubu's election. Under Section 235 of Nigeria's Constitution, decisions of the Supreme Court are final. That does not stop American courts from deciding what FBI documents must be released under FOIA. It does not prevent journalists from investigating Tinubu's past. But the attempt to turn the $460,000 civil forfeiture into a criminal conviction disqualifying Tinubu from the 2023 presidency travelled through Nigeria's courts all the way to the final court. IT LOST. You can reopen an FBI filing cabinet. You cannot pretend that means the 2023 Supreme Court judgment never happened. And there is another chronological problem. Tinubu's documented political “escape” occurred in the OPPOSITE direction. He was elected a Nigerian senator in 1992. After the June 12 crisis and Abacha's crackdown on pro-democracy activists, Tinubu went into exile from NIGERIA in 1994. So Professor Fred somehow transformed: TINUBU ESCAPED ABACHA'S NIGERIA INTO EXILE into: TINUBU ESCAPED AMERICAN CUSTODY BACK TO NIGERIA. That is not a small factual error. That is a U-turn across the Atlantic Ocean. The test is therefore remarkably simple. If Tinubu was arrested in America: SHOW US THE ARREST RECORD. If he was detained:SHOW US THE CUSTODY RECORD. If he escaped: SHOW US THE ESCAPE RECORD. If America wanted its fugitive back: SHOW US THE WARRANT. Because “Tinubu escaped” does not become historical fact merely because somebody says it dramatically on YouTube. After Washington, Chicago, Charlotte, New York and Los Angeles, the United States appears to have had an extraordinary number of opportunities to recapture its supposedly missing prisoner. Perhaps the fugitive was simply too easy to find. |
| Re: TINUBU Vs FBI: The Secret Files, Court Battle & What They Don’t Want You To See by ProfesawFred(op): 7:42am On Aug 30 |
princepee:How? |
| Re: TINUBU Vs FBI: The Secret Files, Court Battle & What They Don’t Want You To See by Ritchiee: 7:52am On Aug 30 |
CharlesCNG:Those people are proving that they are illiterates. Trump was convicted and he is a confirmed criminal,he is the president of the USA today. President Tinubu has never been convicted by any court of law.He is clean. |
| Re: TINUBU Vs FBI: The Secret Files, Court Battle & What They Don’t Want You To See by ProfesawFred(op): 7:57am On Aug 30 |
Ritchiee:Which people are illiterate? |
| Re: TINUBU Vs FBI: The Secret Files, Court Battle & What They Don’t Want You To See by ProfesawFred(op): 7:59am On Aug 30 |
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| Re: TINUBU Vs FBI: The Secret Files, Court Battle & What They Don’t Want You To See by aswani(m): 8:54am On Aug 30*. Modified: 8:59am On Aug 31 |
ProfesawFred:If you want people to subscribe, stop propagating falsehood. |
| Re: TINUBU Vs FBI: The Secret Files, Court Battle & What They Don’t Want You To See by CharlesCNG: 8:56am On Aug 30 |
ProfesawFred:THE $460,000 TRUTH: DRUG-RELATED CIVIL FORFEITURE, YES. CRIMINAL CONVICTION, NO. By CharlesCNG Let us stop insulting the documents. One side says Bola Tinubu's $460,000 American forfeiture was basically “a tax issue.” The other says: “Tinubu was convicted in America for drug trafficking.” Neither formulation accurately describes what happened. The 1993 case was a CIVIL ASSET FORFEITURE proceeding. The United States filed against MONEY IN BANK ACCOUNTS—not a criminal indictment charging Bola Tinubu with drug trafficking. . And the allegations were serious. The Justice Department's complaint incorporated an IRS agent's affidavit stating that investigators had probable cause to believe funds in accounts controlled by Tinubu represented proceeds of drug trafficking or were involved in transactions violating U.S. money-laundering laws. Judge Beryl Howell's 2025 FOIA judgment confirms that these filings officially acknowledged Tinubu as one subject of the wider criminal investigation involving the FBI and DEA. So no, I will not tell you “nothing happened.” Something happened. But now read the settlement. The First Heritage account itself held approximately $980,967 according to the government's affidavit, yet only $460,000 was ultimately forfeited; the roughly $521,000 balance was ordered released. The Citibank funds were also released and the actions against them dismissed with prejudice. Why only $460,000? The documents do not give a specific evidentiary explanation. What they do show is a negotiated settlement: Tinubu and the other claimants DISPUTED that probable cause existed for the seizures, while the U.S. government agreed to return the rest in exchange for the $460,000 forfeiture and settlement of the case. So it would be wrong to say a court found the remaining money “clean”—but equally wrong to pretend the U.S. government successfully forfeited the entire account. “The government alleged the accounts were forfeitable. Yet of approximately $980,967 sitting in First Heritage alone, it settled for $460,000 and released the rest. That is another reason to describe the case as what it was: a negotiated civil forfeiture settlement, not a criminal conviction after trial. There was no criminal plea. No criminal indictment against Tinubu. No criminal trial. No jury verdict finding him guilty. No criminal conviction. That distinction later reached Nigeria's Presidential Election Petition Court when Peter Obi and Labour Party attempted to use the forfeiture as a criminal conviction disqualifying Tinubu. The court rejected it. The supreme upheld the court judgement. End of Legal Story. It held that the case was a civil forfeiture proceeding against property—not a criminal prosecution of Tinubu—and that no indictment, arraignment, trial or criminal conviction had been established. So the honest conclusion is uncomfortable for BOTH camps: Drug-related civil forfeiture? YES. Criminal conviction for drug trafficking? NO. The opposition cannot convert a forfeiture decree into a criminal conviction by typing “drug baron” in capital letters. And WE Tinubu's defenders should not try to wash a narcotics-related forfeiture proceeding into an innocent tax receipt. The documents are serious enough. They don't need anybody's fiction. |
| Re: TINUBU Vs FBI: The Secret Files, Court Battle & What They Don’t Want You To See by CharlesCNG: 10:06am On Aug 30 |
Ritchiee:Which brings us to an important point. pls read and share this IF NIGERIANS HAVE ALREADY REJECTED TINUBU, WHY IS THE OPPOSITION STILL SEARCHING WASHINGTON FOR A SILVER BULLET? By CharlesCNG There is a contradiction at the heart of the opposition's 2027 messaging. We are repeatedly told Nigerians have rejected Bola Tinubu. That hardship has finished him. That he cannot win a credible election. Why this extraordinary effort to avoid campaigning on the very issues they say have already doomed Tinubu — hardship, inflation, jobs and cost of living — while dissipating so much energy on a 33-year-old investigation and a disqualification argument that already travelled through Nigeria’s courts and died at the Supreme Court? If Tinubu has truly been rejected on performance, why keep searching Washington for a silver bullet? Atiku Abubakar has hired Washington firm Von Batten-Montague-York under a 12-month agreement worth $1.2 million. The registered mandate includes reputational strategy, congressional outreach and engagement with the U.S. government. The firm has subsequently circulated Tinubu's old American forfeiture documents to U.S. officials and Congress, while Atiku himself has publicly urged the FBI to release whatever records can lawfully be disclosed. Peter Obi is not part of Atiku's lobbying contract and they are rival candidates. But Obi too has opened his 2027 campaign by demanding scrutiny of candidates' backgrounds, credentials and records, with Tinubu's controversies plainly back in the political conversation. What do they hope to gain? Simple: a political earthquake. A genuinely damaging new disclosure could dominate headlines, revive old character questions, unsettle undecided voters, depress soft Tinubu support and move the 2027 campaign away from roads, reforms, inflation, wages and government performance towards one devastating question: WHAT IS INSIDE THE FILE? That is legitimate politics. If new evidence exists, Nigerians are entitled to see what American law permits. But politically, the strategy increasingly resembles a student who discovers three months before an examination that he has not covered enough of the syllabus. Instead of relying entirely on studying harder, he begins hoping for a leaked question paper, an examiner scandal—or something dramatic that changes the examination itself. Because if Tinubu is already as comprehensively rejected as his opponents insist, why does anyone need a $1.2 million Washington operation to help finish him? A candidate who is already politically dead does not require an FBI file to kill him. And that may be the most revealing thing about this entire campaign: PERHAPS THE OPPOSITION'S ACTIONS SHOW MORE RESPECT FOR TINUBU'S ELECTORAL STRENGTH THAN ITS RHETORIC DOES. |
| Re: TINUBU Vs FBI: The Secret Files, Court Battle & What They Don’t Want You To See by aswani(m): 5:30pm On Aug 30 |
CharlesCNG:Easy answer, we don't have an opposition worth its name. We just have powder puff, empty people running helter skelter throwing mud and hoping some will stick. |
| Re: TINUBU Vs FBI: The Secret Files, Court Battle & What They Don’t Want You To See by BigkokoRep: 5:59pm On Aug 30 |
Rest..... you no get work, other than dey online 24/7 because of a drug dealer. Abi na the mandate Dem give local distributors of white powder? aswani: |
| Re: TINUBU Vs FBI: The Secret Files, Court Battle & What They Don’t Want You To See by Tenses: 7:18pm On Aug 30 |
HacheNoire:You should shut up already. If your government has any file on POTUS they should release it now. The US has loads of files on tinubu and we are asking the US government to release it so we know our beloved president better and you are here crying over Epstein. Are you a citizen of America 🇺🇸. Allow the Americans worry over the Epstein. |
| Re: TINUBU Vs FBI: The Secret Files, Court Battle & What They Don’t Want You To See by lamentor78(m): 8:30pm On Aug 30 |
Why I will never support this is "" WHY NOW"" Tinubu didn't join politics yesterday, he was a senator,a governor and a president, why ? Is US justice system in coma all these years, just because opposition knows they can't beat him in any election they no resort in digging past records. Any Tinubu record should be released in 2031 |
| Re: TINUBU Vs FBI: The Secret Files, Court Battle & What They Don’t Want You To See by SeeWahala: 2:55am On Aug 31 |
BigkokoRep:Hehehehe 😁 you don clock the weirei shap-shap 😆 |
| Re: TINUBU Vs FBI: The Secret Files, Court Battle & What They Don’t Want You To See by SeeWahala: 2:57am On Aug 31 |
aswani:Mschew as if the entire world doesn't now know that it's indeed your own principal tilumbu who is the one that 'PUFFS' the white 'POWDER' 😏 |
| Re: TINUBU Vs FBI: The Secret Files, Court Battle & What They Don’t Want You To See by aswani(m): 8:18am On Aug 31 |
SeeWahala:That attempt at humour was a tad poor, I hope you are not here all week and no, we won't try the fish ![]() |
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as if the entire world doesn't now know that it's indeed your own principal tilumbu who is the one that 'PUFFS' the white 'POWDER' 😏