The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will start turning over approximately 2,500 documents relating to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in its database, Peoples Gazette has reported.
The unexpected move followed FBI’s initial reluctance to turn over the documents in line with a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request first filed in 2022. Aaron Greenspan, who runs PlainSite, a website that pushes anti-corruption and transparency in public service, filed the request in collaboration with Nigeria’s top investigative journalist, David Hundeyin.
On Monday, Hundeyin said Aaron Greenspan had also sued five U.S. government agencies “for their refusal to honour FOIA requests regarding the contents of the files they maintain on Bola Ahmed Tinubu. On Friday I was informed that they will comply with the FOIA.”
On June 23, 2023, Hundeyin had posted on X, formerly Twitter that “PlainSite has today commenced U.S. civil proceedings against @StateDept, @FBI, @DEAHQ, @IRSnews and @USAttorneys following their refusal to honour FOIA requests about their knowledge of @officialABAT’s involvement in heroin trafficking.”
The frontline American law enforcement institution said it would start releasing the documents effective October ending at 500 pages per month, according to a new court filing obtained by The Gazette.
“FBI has identified a total of approximately 2500 pages potentially responsive to FOIA requests 1553430-00 and 1587544-000,” the U.S. body said in a status report docketed on September 11 at the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C.
“FBI plans a processing schedule of 500 pages per month, with an initial release anticipated by the end of October 2023.”
The Gazette said it has monitored the application for months and offered suggestions to help ensure its success after initial excuses by the FBI.
The disclosure is expected to clarify outstanding questions about when Mr Tinubu entered the U.S., under which name he entered and all activities he has been involved in ever since. Mr Tinubu spent decades in the United States, appearing to have first moved there in the 1970s. More details about his forfeiture of $460,000 over drug dealing in Chicago the 1990s are also expected to be among the records to be released.
The Nigerian president’s background has remained a mystery for most citizens as questions about his real parents and childhood education have not been answered.
Alongside the FBI, the U.S. State Department, Internal Revenue Service, and Drug Enforcement Administration have all indicated readiness to turn over thousands of pages of Bola Tinubu-related records. The Central Intelligence Agency also said it was collating records of Mr Tinubu for release in compliance with the law.
