Tinubu Asks US Court to Block Release of FBI, DEA Records

Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has urged a U.S. federal court to deny a request for the release of records held by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). His legal team argues that disclosing these records would infringe upon his privacy rights.

Tinubu's lawyers submitted a 16-page response to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. They are asking the court to reject a motion for summary judgment filed by transparency activist Aaron Greenspan. Greenspan's lawsuit, filed under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), targets several U.S. government agencies.

Greenspan seeks records pertaining to Tinubu, including the FBI's complete file on him and FBI Form 302 interview records from 1992 to 1993. His request also covers documents related to a 1993 civil forfeiture case in the U.S. involving approximately $460,000 allegedly linked to Tinubu.

Tinubu intervened in the case to protect his privacy interests. His legal team contends that FOIA's purpose is to promote transparency in government activities, not to provide access to private information held by the government about individuals. "Plaintiff’s motion should be denied because FOIA is not a tool for obtaining information the government collected about private individuals," the lawyers stated.

The lawyers, Christopher W. Carmichael, Victor P. Henderson, and Oluwole O. Afolabi, argued that Greenspan's requests focus on information about a private individual rather than revealing U.S. government conduct. They cited the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in U.S. Department of Justice v. Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, which established that releasing records about private citizens can implicate substantial privacy interests if the information reveals little about government actions.

Greenspan initially submitted multiple FOIA requests to various U.S. agencies, including the Department of Justice, FBI, IRS, CIA, and DEA, seeking records on Tinubu and his associates. Out of 12 original requests, eight remain in dispute after the agencies' initial responses. The case previously involved "Glomar" responses, where agencies neither confirm nor deny the existence of records if their disclosure could harm protected interests. While the District Court upheld the CIA's Glomar responses, it rejected the FBI and DEA's use of this approach, ordering them to search for and process non-exempt records. The court distinguished between Tinubu's interest in keeping confidential the fact that he might have been investigated and the public's interest in understanding government actions.

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Plaintiff’s motion should be denied because FOIA is not a tool for obtaining information the government collected about private individuals.