By Ghazali Ibrahim 
In a new twist to the decades-old controversy surrounding Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have launched a fresh search for records tied to a 1990s drug investigation allegedly involving him but are pushing back against a court-ordered deadline for immediate release.
The agencies, in a joint status report filed in a U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., revealed they have begun searching for the requested documents but will need up to 90 days to complete the process, with a final report expected by July 31, 2025.
This comes despite an April 8 ruling by Judge Beryl Howell, who ordered both agencies to produce the records following a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by U.S. transparency advocate Aaron Greenspan.
The judge dismissed the agencies’ earlier reliance on a Glomar response, a legal argument that allows government bodies to neither confirm nor deny the existence of certain documents.
Greenspan, frustrated by years of delays, criticized the new 90-day timeline and urged the court to compel the FBI and DEA to begin releasing unredacted documents within a week.
“Defendants provide no rationale whatsoever as to why their search for documents should take 90 days,” the joint report states, as Greenspan also seeks to recover $440.22 in filing and mailing fees incurred during the case.
The court had originally mandated immediate release, but the agencies’ new timeline has triggered concerns about transparency and possible delays in high-profile investigations involving political figures.
While the Presidency has downplayed the controversy, Presidential Adviser on Information and Strategy Bayo Onanuga said the records are part of a decades-old case with “nothing new or revealing,” insisting that the issue is a closed chapter.
Still, the case has stirred renewed interest both in Nigeria and abroad, particularly as questions persist about integrity and transparency at the highest levels of government.
