President Bola Tinubu filed a US court case to stop the release of FBI and DEA records, citing personal privacy protections.
President Bola Tinubu has filed a formal request in a United States court to stop American law enforcement agencies from releasing investigative files linked to old drug trafficking allegations.
The legal papers were submitted to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The court documents, released by his legal team on Saturday, August 29, 2026, show that President Tinubu wants the court to prevent the Federal Bureau of Investigation, known as the FBI, and the Drug Enforcement Administration, known as the DEA, from giving out private documents.
The main reason for this legal battle is an ongoing lawsuit filed by an American transparency activist named Aaron Greenspan.
Under the United States Freedom of Information Act, Greenspan asked American security agencies to hand over all their files on President Tinubu, including interview papers and documents from 1992 to 1993.
The request also covers old records tied to a 1993 court agreement in which about $460,000 linked to Tinubu was handed over to the US government.
President Tinubu has consistently said he did nothing wrong, and his lawyers argue that sharing internal police files would violate his right to personal privacy.
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The legal team representing the Nigerian leader includes lawyers Christopher W. Carmichael, Victor P. Henderson, and Oluwole O. Afolabi.
They wrote a 16 page document explaining to the judge why secret police files should stay private, even if some parts of the case were talked about in public many years ago.
The lawyers asked the court to reject Greenspan’s request and allow the government agencies to keep hiding sensitive parts of their records.
Defending their client’s right to keep private files secret, President Tinubu’s legal team wrote in the court paper that “regardless of the prior disclosure in the forfeiture proceeding, Intervenor retains a privacy interest in potential disclosure of the investigative files sought by Plaintiff”.
Explaining why the court should not allow public requests to search through government records for private names, the lawyers added that “if this Court finds that Plaintiff cannot use FOIA to mine information in government files about a private individual, he should not be able to access documents with Intervenor’s name on them”.
The US court will decide whether American law enforcement must keep the investigative records secret under personal privacy rules.
Jennifer Baba is a journalist, international news correspondent, and writer at Moderncrux, where she covers artificial intelligence, fintech, emerging technologies, global politics, and international affairs. Based in Nigeria, she is passionate about transforming complex global developments into clear, engaging stories that inform and inspire readers.
