President Bola Tinubu has on August 28, 2026 filed a legal application in a U.S. federal court pleading to block the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and Department of Justice (DoJ) from releasing unredacted law enforcement records on him from the 1990s.
Aaron Greenspan, transparency activist, had filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit (Greenspan v. Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys et al.) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The application targets U.S. government files and investigations from the early 1990s, which include historical allegations and a 1993 civil forfeiture proceeding.
In a 16-page court filing, Tinubu’s lawyers have argued that public disclosure of the investigative files would constitute an unwarranted invasion of his personal privacy under FOIA Exemption 7(C) and the Privacy
Tinubu’s legal team contended that the records are being pushed by outside figures primarily to influence political dynamics and opposition narratives in Nigeria.
This issue has been on and off in the United States courts for about three years now. Tinubu has used all manner of tactics to drag the issue from getting to conclusion which may not favour him.