US court case on Tinubu’s past forfeiture is civil, not criminal matter – Presidency

Nigeria’s presidency has moved to recast an ongoing US court case involving President Bola Tinubu as a dispute over access to government records, not a criminal case.

Presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga said the proceedings before the US District Court for the District of Columbia concern requests made under the Freedom of Information Act. “The matter is a civil records-disclosure dispute under the United States Freedom of Information Act. It is not a criminal case against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, nor has the court found him guilty of any criminal wrongdoing,” he said.

The case involves the civil forfeiture of funds by Tinubu to the US government in 1993, when he was being investigated for drug-related offences. That occurred six years before he became governor of Lagos State. Onanuga also cited a 2003 letter from the American Consulate in Lagos stating that an FBI records check had found no criminal arrest records, outstanding wants or warrants for Tinubu, who was then governor.

According to the presidency, Aaron Greenspan submitted Freedom of Information Act requests to several US agencies in 2022 seeking records related to Tinubu. After agencies withheld some records or declined to confirm or deny whether they existed, Greenspan filed a civil action in 2023. The court later allowed Tinubu to participate as an intervenor.

The agencies invoked the so-called Glomar defence, which allows US law-enforcement bodies to decline to confirm or deny the existence of an investigation. The court granted summary judgment to the CIA, the Executive Office for US Attorneys, the State Department, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service, removing them from the proceedings. Claims involving the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration remained under consideration.

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The matter is a civil records-disclosure dispute under the United States Freedom of Information Act. It is not a criminal case against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, nor has the court found him guilty of any criminal wrongdoing.