THE Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have requested a 90-day extension from a United States District Court to release documents relating to an alleged drug investigation involving President Bola Tinubu.
The records date back to the 1990s.
The request was filed on Thursday, May 1, in a joint report to the US District Court for the District of Columbia.
The case originated from Freedom of Information Act requests filed by Aaron Greenspan, a US transparency advocate.
Greenspan is seeking records allegedly related to a Chicago drug ring, naming Tinubu and three others.
The court, presided over by Beryl Howell, had earlier ordered the FBI and DEA to provide a status update on the search and release of non-exempt documents by May 2, 2025.
However, in the latest submissions before the court, the FBI and DEA said they needed more time to complete their searches for the records.
In their statement, the FBI and DEA submitted a joint status report outlining a proposed schedule for further proceedings in the case.
The statement reads, “Pursuant to the court’s order, the defendants, FBI and DEA must search for and produce non-exempt records responsive to the plaintiff’s FOIA requests (FBI Requests Nos. 1588244-000 and 1593615- 000, and DEA Request Nos. 22-00892-F and 24-00201-F).
“The FBI and DEA have initiated their searches for responsive, non-exempt, reasonably segregable portions of records requested by the plaintiff and anticipate completing their searches in ninety days.”
Greenspan opposed the delay, citing years of prior delays and already identified documents, and suggested a tighter deadline.
According to Greenspan, given the years-long delay already caused by the defendants and the fact that many responsive documents have already been identified, he proposed that the FBI and DEA complete their searches and productions by next week, or, at the very least, produce unredacted versions of the already-identified documents by next week, with the remainder completed in 14 days.
He added that the defendants provided no rationale for why their search for documents should take 90 days.
Greenspan filed FOIA requests with several federal agencies in 2022 and 2023.
The FBI and DEA initially refused to confirm or deny the existence of the records, citing a “Glomar response”.
The court ruled against the agencies’ initial response and ordered them to disclose records where applicable. Greenspan is also seeking $440.22 in cost reimbursement.
The agencies and Greenspan disagree on the deadline for the next joint status report, proposing July 31 and May 31, 2025, respectively.
Background of the case
On October 20, 2023, Greenspan filed an emergency motion seeking a hearing to compel the US agencies to produce records responsive to his FOIA requests immediately.
He cited the Nigerian Supreme Court’s plan to begin hearing arguments in three days in a litigation contesting Tinubu’s 2023 election as Nigeria’s president.
Three days later, on October 23, 2023, Greenspan’s emergency motion was denied for failing to “satisfy any of the requirements for emergency injunctive relief.”
Also on that same day, Tinubu moved to intervene in the case, citing his privacy interests in his “confidential tax records” and “documents from federal law enforcement agencies that fall within the Privacy Act or exceptions to FOIA and should not be disclosed.”
In 1993, Tinubu was said to have forfeited $460,000 to the American government after authorities linked the funds to proceeds of narcotics trafficking.
The issue of Tinubu’s forfeiture of the funds featured prominently at the Presidential Election Petition Court when his opponents, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, challenged the president’s eligibility to contest Nigeria’s presidency. But the court, in a unanimous decision, dismissed the suits, affirming Tinubu’s election.
However, in April, Judge Howell ruled partly in favour of Greenspan in the US case.
As part of his case for reconsideration under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Greenspan submitted a verified complaint and affidavit filed by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) on July 26, 1993, in the Northern District of Illinois.
The legal documents sought the forfeiture of funds held by Tinubu in First Heritage Bank, which authorities alleged were linked to a drug trafficking investigation.
The affidavit, written by IRS Special Agent Kevin Moss, outlined the drug trafficking activities of Abiodun Agbele, which served as the basis for seeking the forfeiture of Tinubu’s funds.
A reporter with the ICIR
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