WASHINGTON, United States – The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has confirmed the existence of historical records involving Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu that were compiled during a criminal investigation into drug-trafficking networks in the early 1990s.
The confirmation was contained in a sworn declaration submitted to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on August 28, 2026, as part of an ongoing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit seeking access to archival law enforcement records.
Okay News reports that the filing acknowledges the existence of investigative records but does not establish that Tinubu was charged, indicted or convicted of a criminal offence in the United States.
The lawsuit was brought by American transparency activist Aaron Greenspan, who is seeking records compiled by US law enforcement agencies during an investigation into an alleged Chicago heroin-trafficking network between 1992 and 1993.
In its declaration, the FBI said, “the responsive records herein were compiled in furtherance of the FBI’s investigation of multiple individuals for drug trafficking crimes.”
The agency also stated that “the court has already determined that an official acknowledgement had been made of an investigation of Bola Tinubu.”
The filing follows an April 2025 ruling by US District Judge Beryl Howell, who held that the FBI and the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) could no longer use so-called “Glomar” responses to neither confirm nor deny the existence of investigative records concerning Tinubu.
The ruling required the agencies to process records that were not exempt from disclosure under the FOIA.
The FBI said it continues to withhold portions of the records, including 302 interview records identified under FBI Case No. 245-IP-71386-UUUUUU. The agency cited legal exemptions covering personal privacy, confidential sources, law enforcement techniques and information that could affect personal safety.
Some portions of the declaration were publicised on social media by Von Batten-Montague-York, a Washington-based public policy and lobbying firm retained by former Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar. The firm said the filing contradicted claims that Tinubu had never been the subject of a criminal investigation.
Tinubu’s administration has rejected that interpretation of the documents.
On Tuesday, September 1, 2026, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communications Sunday Dare described the renewed focus on the records as a political campaign ahead of Nigeria’s 2027 general elections.
“The coordinated media blitz orchestrated around a Washington, D.C. advisory firm is not an intelligence breakthrough; it is a clinical demonstration of desperation,” Dare said. “The incendiary press releases being carefully churned out from Washington are public relations propaganda sheets passed off as the view of the U.S. Government. They are not.”
Dare said Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) filings with the US Department of Justice showed that Atiku had engaged Von Batten-Montague-York under a $1.2 million, 12-month retainer, which he alleged was intended to promote partisan narratives.
He also questioned the firm’s role in the court proceedings, saying its principal, Dr. Karl-Marx Edward Okeke-Von Batten, had no involvement in the litigation.
“He has absolute zero to do with what is playing out in the U.S. court system,” Dare said. “The case has been active since 2023, and the FBI’s main concern is simply the protection of the techniques by which it gathers information and the safety of its sources.”
The presidential spokesperson also rejected suggestions that Tinubu’s current travel to Europe was connected to the US litigation, saying the president was on a previously scheduled annual vacation.
Dare further cited legal arguments previously made by Tinubu’s counsel, Wole Afolabi, SAN, that the absence of a US indictment or prosecution meant the president had not been found criminally liable in connection with the investigation.
“True democratic validation is earned through the ballot box and tangible service delivery to the citizens at home, not through manufactured headlines bought and paid for in foreign currency,” Dare said.
The renewed dispute over the historical records comes as Nigerian political parties and presidential contenders begin positioning themselves ahead of the 2027 general elections.
