By Ayo Ayodele
The Presidency has clarified that the ongoing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation involving President Bola Ahmed Tinubu before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia is a civil records-disclosure dispute and not a criminal case against the Nigerian leader.
In a statement issued on Thursday by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the Presidency said reports suggesting otherwise were speculative and misleading.
It stressed that the court had neither charged nor found Tinubu guilty of any criminal wrongdoing.
The Presidency traced the case to 2022, when Aaron Greenspan submitted FOIA requests to several US government agencies seeking records relating to Tinubu.
According to the statement, after some agencies withheld certain records or declined to confirm or deny their existence, Greenspan instituted Civil Action No. 23-1816 before the US District Court for the District of Columbia in 2023.
The court subsequently permitted Tinubu to participate in the proceedings as an intervenor.
The Presidency said the US agencies invoked what is known as the “Glomar defence”, a legal position under which an agency may decline to confirm or deny the existence of certain records where doing so could reveal protected law-enforcement information.
It said the court subsequently granted summary judgment in favour of the Central Intelligence Agency, Executive Office for United States Attorneys, Department of State, Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service, effectively removing them from the proceedings.
The remaining aspects of the litigation, it said, concern the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Drug Enforcement Administration.
The Presidency disclosed that, in compliance with court orders, the FBI and DEA had produced 399 pages of records, although portions of the documents were redacted pursuant to exemptions provided under US law.
The plaintiff subsequently challenged the agencies’ decision to withhold portions of the records.
According to the statement, the FBI and DEA, through the US Department of Justice, opposed the request for the unredacted documents, citing several statutory exemptions.
These include protections for grand jury proceedings and certain information relating to pen registers and trap-and-trace devices; attorney-client and attorney work-product privileges; law-enforcement records; personal privacy; confidential sources; and investigative techniques.
The Presidency added that Tinubu, acting on the advice of his lawyers, had also asserted his rights under FOIA Exemption 7(C), which protects against certain unwarranted invasions of personal privacy.
It said the plaintiff has until September 11, 2026, to file any opposition and reply to the processes filed by the defendants and the President as intervenor.
The FBI, DEA and Tinubu, it added, have until September 18, 2026, to respond to any processes filed by the plaintiff.
The Presidency further emphasised that the release or withholding of records under FOIA does not, in itself, establish criminal liability.
“The case concerns access to government records and the proper application of statutory exemptions,” the statement said.
It also rejected what it described as recent attempts by Karl von Batten to portray himself and his client, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, as central figures in the proceedings.
The Presidency said neither von Batten nor Atiku is a party to the case.
It maintained that the litigation remained under the control of Judge Beryl A. Howell of the US District Court for the District of Columbia, who would determine the matter on the basis of the evidence, applicable law and arguments presented by the parties.
The Presidency therefore urged Nigerian media organisations and the public to distinguish between verified court proceedings and what it described as partisan speculation.
It reiterated that the case was a civil FOIA records-disclosure dispute and did not amount to a criminal charge, trial or judicial finding against President Tinubu.