The Presidency has moved to dispel claims that President Bola Tinubu is facing a criminal case in the United States, insisting that the ongoing proceedings are strictly a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) records dispute.
The clarification follows public commentary suggesting that proceedings before the US District Court for the District of Columbia amount to a criminal trial or a judicial finding of wrongdoing against Tinubu. The Presidency said the court has neither charged nor convicted the Nigerian president of any offence.
The dispute began after Aaron Greenspan submitted FOIA requests in 2022 to several US government agencies seeking records concerning Tinubu. After some agencies withheld records or declined to confirm whether certain records existed, Greenspan filed Civil Action No. 23-1816 before the US District Court for the District of Columbia in 2023.
The Presidency also referred to a February 4, 2003 letter from the American Consulate in Lagos to then Inspector-General of Police Tafa Balogun. It said an FBI records check at the time found no criminal arrest records, wants or warrants for Tinubu, who was then governor of Lagos State.
Tinubu was later allowed to participate in the FOIA proceedings as an intervenor. During the case, US agencies invoked the “Glomar defence”, a legal mechanism that allows government agencies in certain circumstances to refuse to confirm or deny the existence of records where doing so could expose protected information.
The court has since granted summary judgment in favour of the CIA, the Executive Office for US Attorneys, the Department of State, the Department of the Treasury and the IRS, removing those agencies from the case. The remaining dispute concerns records held by the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
The Presidency said the FBI and DEA have released 399 pages of records, although parts of the documents were redacted under exemptions in US law. The plaintiff has challenged those redactions and the withholding of additional material, while the agencies have defended their position using exemptions covering areas including grand jury information, law-enforcement records, personal privacy, confidential sources and investigative techniques.
The Presidency said Tinubu has also asserted privacy protections under FOIA Exemption 7(C), following advice from his lawyers. It stressed that the release or withholding of records under FOIA does not, by itself, establish criminal liability.
The legal timetable now requires the plaintiff to file opposition and replies by September 11, 2026, while the FBI, DEA and Tinubu, as an intervenor, have until September 18 to respond. The Presidency also rejected claims that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar or US lobbyist Karl Von Batten are parties to the case, saying the matter remains before the US court and will be decided according to the evidence and applicable law.
