Tinubu urges US court to reject release of FBI, DEA records on alleged drug probe

President Bola Tinubu has asked a United States federal court to reject a bid by transparency activist Aaron Greenspan for the release of additional FBI and DEA records relating to him, Sahara Reporters reports.

In an amended response filed on October 1 in Aaron Greenspan v. Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys et al., Tinubu’s lawyers argued that the disputed material is protected under the Freedom of Information Act’s Exemption 7(C) and the Privacy Act, both of which shield personal information in law-enforcement records.

They said the FBI and DEA had already released thousands of documents, some redacted, and maintained that Tinubu’s current position as president does not strip him of privacy rights over decades-old records from 1988 to 1991.

Greenspan, founder of transparency platform PlainSite, is separately seeking records from a 1993 civil forfeiture case involving about $460,000 linked to Tinubu.

His lawyers had earlier argued that details of the alleged investigation should be made public, citing an April 2025 ruling that barred the FBI and DEA from withholding confirmation of the records’ existence.

Tinubu’s lawyers, however, maintained that the ruling only addressed whether the agencies could confirm or deny the existence of such files, not whether their actual contents must be disclosed.

They asked the court to deny Greenspan’s motion for summary judgment and uphold the redactions already made, leaving the matter in the hands of Judge Beryl Howell for a final decision.