The Presidency on Sunday rejected the significance of a United States court ruling which mandates the FBI and DEA to release files tied to an old drug investigation involving President Bola Tinubu. Officials maintained there is nothing new to discover, noting that the information has been public knowledge for decades.
The US District Court in Washington, D.C., presided over by Judge Beryl Howell, directed the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to process and release all non-exempt records related to a drug trafficking case from the early 1990s. The case reportedly involves Tinubu and three others: Lee Andrew Edwards, Mueez Akande, and Abiodun Agbele.
The court ruled in favor of Aaron Greenspan, an American legal researcher who filed multiple Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests seeking these records. Judge Howell noted that the public interest in the case outweighs any privacy concerns. The court also stated that both the FBI and DEA had already acknowledged the existence of investigations involving Tinubu, making prior “Glomar responses” — the agencies’ refusal to confirm or deny the existence of records — unjustified.
Reacting to the ruling, President Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said, “There is nothing new to be revealed. The report by Agent Moss of the FBI and the DEA has been in the public space for more than 30 years. The reports did not indict the Nigerian leader.” He also noted that legal experts were examining the ruling but insisted it does not introduce any fresh dimension to the matter.
Daniel Bwala, also speaking in an interview on Channels TV, said; “Nothing’s new at all. So, let’s wait for the 2nd of May because there is actually nothing that they are seeking for which has not been released. I mean it is intended to create unnecessary conversation as if there is an issue on the table.
“So, there is nothing actually in what was published in the ruling of the court that is new. Everything has been in the public domain for ages. But you know, the opposition will want to feast on it because in the absence of better ideas, that is the only thing they can cling on to, in the hope that they will probably misinterpret the public.
