President Bola Tinubu has asked a United States court to prevent the release of records held by the US Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) relating to allegations of drug trafficking.
The records are being sought by American transparency activist Aaron Greenspan, who filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against several US government agencies for documents connected to investigations involving Tinubu.
Greenspan’s requests include the FBI’s complete file on Tinubu, as well as FBI Form 302 interview records covering the period between 1992 and 1993. The case also involves records allegedly linked to a 1993 civil forfeiture proceeding in the US involving approximately $460,000 associated with Tinubu. The Nigerian president has denied any wrongdoing.
In a 16-page court filing, Tinubu’s lawyers — Christopher W. Carmichael, Victor P. Henderson and Oluwole O. Afolabi — argued that releasing the records could violate his privacy rights.
The legal team maintained that the documents sought by Greenspan contain information that has not previously been made public and should therefore remain protected.
The lawyers argued that previous disclosures from the forfeiture proceedings did not eliminate Tinubu’s privacy interest in the wider investigative files.
They cited a US Supreme Court precedent to support their position that an individual can retain privacy rights over an entire government file even when some information from that file has already been disclosed publicly.
According to the lawyers, the fact that certain details may appear in public records does not mean that previously undisclosed information contained in government investigative files should also be released.
Tinubu’s legal team further cited earlier court rulings involving government investigative records, arguing that being publicly associated with an investigation does not automatically remove an individual’s privacy rights over the contents of the investigative files.
The lawyers also challenged Greenspan’s approach to obtaining the records through FOIA, arguing that his filings demonstrate a particular interest in documents containing Tinubu’s name.
“Plaintiff’s filings, overwhelmingly, demonstrate that his singular focus is obtaining documents with Intervenor’s ‘name on them,’” the filing stated.
The legal team argued that such a focus should not give Greenspan access to documents otherwise protected from disclosure under FOIA exemptions or the Privacy Act.
They urged the court to reject Greenspan’s motion for summary judgment and allow the FBI and DEA to maintain existing redactions or withholdings on the requested records.
“For all the foregoing reasons, Intervenor requests that the Court deny Plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment and allow the redactions or withholdings made by the FBI and DEA to stand,” Tinubu’s lawyers said.
