The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have jointly filed a request with a U.S. District Court seeking a 90-day extension to release records related to Nigerian President Bola Tinubu. The agencies stated they need more time to complete the search for relevant, non-exempt documents.
The request stems from a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed in 2023 by U.S. transparency advocate Aaron Greenspan. The suit seeks records from multiple federal agencies—including the FBI, DEA, IRS, Department of State, and CIA—pertaining to Bola Tinubu and others allegedly connected to a Chicago-based heroin trafficking and money laundering network in the 1990s.
In a significant ruling in April 2025, Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the FBI and DEA to stop using “Glomar responses,” a legal tactic used to neither confirm nor deny the existence of records. The judge ruled that public interest in the matter outweighed any potential privacy concerns, particularly given past acknowledgments of investigations involving Tinubu.
While the CIA’s use of Glomar responses was upheld, the FBI and DEA are now required to search for and process any non-exempt documents related to the case. The agencies have requested to complete this process within 90 days.
