A wise man once said that when you don’t want people to enter your house, you don’t just lock the door, you check whether they’ve found the spare key.
It seems that’s what President Bola Tinubu is doing because he’s currently asking a United States’ court to keep a set of records concerning drug trafficking investigations involving him out of the public eye.
In a 16-page filing submitted on August 28, 2026, Tinubu’s lawyers asked the US District Court for the District of Columbia to reject a request by American transparency activist Aaron Greenspan for the release of records held by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) relating to allegations of drug trafficking.
They argued that releasing the records could violate Tinubu’s privacy rights and asked the court to allow the files to stay hidden.
Greenspan has been pursuing the records through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed in 2023. Among other things, he wants the FBI’s files relating to Tinubu and FBI Form 302 interview records covering 1992 and 1993.
This isn’t exactly a new fight. The records date back to a period when Tinubu’s name appeared in a US investigation involving alleged drug trafficking and money laundering.
So, how did we get here? And why does our president, the leader of the most powerful and populous African country, want to hide who he was and what he did before he became a public officer?
The 1990s files that refuse to go away
The story goes back more than three decades to Chicago, US. In July 1993, the US government filed a civil forfeiture case involving funds held in a First Heritage Bank account in Tinubu’s name. Court records show that $460,000 in the account was eventually forfeited to the US through a decree entered on October 4, 1993.
The decree stated that the funds were either profits of narcotics trafficking or connected to a series of financial transactions violating the country’s laws.
It was also cleared that the forfeiture proceedings were civil, so it did not amount to a criminal conviction against Tinubu. And so, no jail term for our president.
However, the case has remained part of political conversations around Tinubu for years, especially because of allegations about the circumstances in which the money was investigated and forfeited.
Tinubu has continuously denied any wrongdoing.
Pick two
Greenspan, the American transparency activist and founder of PlainSite, then began seeking records from US agencies through FOIA. His requests included records from the FBI, DEA and other agencies relating to Tinubu as well as records connected to the 1993 forfeiture case.
In 2023, he took the fight to court after US agencies refused to provide some of the information he requested.
That case, Greenspan v. Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys et al., Case No. 1:23-cv-01816-BAH, is the legal battlefield where the latest drama is playing out.
What exactly is Greenspan looking for?
This is important because “release the FBI files” can sound like there is one mysterious folder sitting in Washington labelled, “TINUBU: Top Secret”. But it is more complicated than that.
Greenspan’s requests cover different records, including the FBI’s file relating to Tinubu and Form 302 interview records from the 1992–1993 period. The FOIA dispute has involved the FBI, DEA, CIA and other US agencies as well as different categories of records and exemptions.
The records are therefore not just one single document or one specific report. And their existence alone does not prove that Tinubu committed a criminal offence. What we know is that US agencies have records relating to drug trafficking and money laundering investigations involving him. And that’s what Greenspan wants to lay his hands on.
Is the FBI playing it safe?
Before Tinubu’s latest filing, the FBI had already asked the court for permission to explain in secret why some of the records should not be released to the public.
On August 20, 2026, the agency filed an application before the court and asked to submit an ex parte, in camera declaration. Basically, saying they want to explain to the judge alone in secret rather than say it all in an open courtroom.
The FBI said publicly explaining all the reasons for withholding the files could itself reveal law-enforcement techniques and potentially endanger people’s lives.
The agency’s position is based on exemptions under the US Freedom of Information Act, including protections relating to investigative methods and personal safety.
The FBI were eventually allowed to submit the material to the court for the judge’s review, according to reports on the proceedings.
Tinubu, the man of the hour
Tinubu has now formally intervened in the FOIA case and is asking the court to reject Greenspan’s push for further release.
His lawyers argue that the fact that some information from the old forfeiture proceedings is already public does not mean that every investigative record relating to Tinubu should now be opened.
They also argue that the requested files could contain information about a possible criminal investigation that is not currently part of the public record, and that Tinubu retains privacy rights over those records.
His legal team also challenged Greenspan’s arguments concerning the FBI’s search, the DEA’s document index, redactions and the use of FOIA exemptions.
In other words, Tinubu’s lawyers are asking the court to keep the existing wall around the records standing.
Why you should be worried
Greenspan is not the only one who wants something from these files. Some political parties and groups want the records out, too. And an average Nigerian should also be concerned about why this back-and-forth is happening over some old files.
The Allied Peoples Movement (APM) has called on US authorities to release the records, arguing that Nigerians deserve transparency over information concerning their president. The African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) have also criticised Tinubu’s attempt to stop further disclosure. ADC spokesperson Bolaji Abdullahi said it’s “suspicious and that the president should out clean.”
So the matter is beyond being an American court case or a fight over old documents. Nigerians need to see the records connected to the investigations that have followed Tinubu for over three decades.
And that is why this case matters. Whatever the records eventually reveal or don’t reveal, Nigerians deserve to know what is in them and why their president is going all out to ensure it stays in the past. We also cannot have another layer of secrecy added to a story that has refused to disappear. So maybe it’s time we let the cat out of the bag because this is becoming tiring.
What happens now?
Like a series, we are all looking forward to the next episode of this whole brouhaha,; whether the court will compel the US agencies to release more of the records or allow them to remain hidden.
Tinubu doesn’t want them to be released. Greenspan wants more disclosure. Both are locked in on this fight. And somewhere in the middle is a set of records from the 1990s that has followed Tinubu from his Chicago days into Nigerian politics and now into the presidency.
For now, the court has the file, and the public is still waiting to see how much of it, if any, gets out. But there’s an ultimate question we can’t seem to shake off: Is Mr President hiding something?
