FBI, DEA Ask U.S. Court for 90 More Days to Release Tinubu Drug Case Files
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have asked a court in Washington, D.C., to give them 90 more days to search and release documents linked to an old drug investigation that allegedly involves Nigeria’s President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
This request was made on Thursday in a joint report filed with the court. The agencies say they need more time to find and prepare the documents, which date back to the 1990s.
The case was brought forward by Aaron Greenspan, an American legal activist and founder of the website PlainSite. He used the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to request records from the FBI and DEA. He believes the documents will show Tinubu’s possible links to a drug ring in Chicago, alongside three others: Lee Andrew Edwards, Mueez Abegboyega Akande, and Abiodun Agbele.
The judge handling the case, Beryl Howell, had earlier ordered the two U.S. agencies to update the court by May 2, 2025, on how far they had gone in finding and releasing the documents.
But in their new report, the FBI and DEA say they have only just started the search and need until late July to finish. They explained that they are working on locating “non-exempt and reasonably segregable” documents meaning papers they are legally allowed to release without violating privacy or security laws.
Greenspan Fights Back
Greenspan, however, is not happy with the delay. He told the court that the agencies have already had years to process these requests and that they are only wasting more time. He believes many of the needed documents have already been found and that they should be released immediately without unnecessary red tape.
He proposed that the agencies release the unedited versions of documents already found by next week and complete the rest within 14 days.
“The FBI and DEA have already caused years of delay,” Greenspan argued. “They give no real reason why it should take them 90 more days.”
Long Legal Battle
Greenspan originally sent his FOIA requests between 2022 and 2023, targeting several U.S. agencies. At first, the FBI and DEA refused to even confirm that any such documents existed, giving what is known as a Glomar response a fancy way of saying, “we can’t say yes or no.”
But the court later ruled that such a response was not acceptable and ordered the agencies to begin processing and releasing whatever they could.
Greenspan is also demanding that the U.S. government repay him $440.22 money he spent on legal filing fees and postage.
Now, the two sides are also fighting over the next court deadline. The FBI and DEA want to file their next update by July 31, after their 90-day search is done. But Greenspan insists the next report should come much earlier by May 31.
Why This Matters
This case has drawn attention both in the U.S. and Nigeria, as it touches on the long-debated past of President Tinubu, who has faced multiple allegations over his ties to drug trafficking in the 1990s. Tinubu has always denied wrongdoing.
As this legal battle unfolds in America, many eyes around the world especially in Nigeria are waiting to see if the documents will finally shed new light on the matter or simply add more questions.
Reference
FBI, DEA Ask U.S. Court for 90 More Days to Release Tinubu Drug Case Files