The Presidency has dismissed reports suggesting that President Bola Tinubu is facing a criminal case in the United States, clarifying that the ongoing legal action in Washington, DC, is a civil dispute over the disclosure of government records under the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
The clarification was contained in a statement issued on Thursday by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
Onanuga said the case, filed by American transparency activist Aaron Greenspan at the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, does not constitute a criminal trial and that no court has found Tinubu guilty of any criminal offence.
“For clarity, the matter is a civil records-disclosure dispute under the United States Freedom of Information Act. It is not a criminal case against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, nor has the court found him guilty of any criminal wrongdoing,” Onanuga said.
Providing a background to the case, the presidential aide said Greenspan filed FOIA requests in 2022 seeking records from several US government agencies before instituting Civil Action No. 23-1816 in 2023.
He said the court later granted Tinubu permission to join the proceedings as an intervenor.
According to Onanuga, the Central Intelligence Agency, Executive Office for United States Attorneys, US Department of State, Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service have since been removed from the case after obtaining summary judgment based on the “Glomar defence”—a legal position under which an agency can neither confirm nor deny the existence of certain records.
He said the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration remain parties to the suit and have released 399 pages of records, although portions of the documents were redacted under exemptions permitted by US law.
Onanuga said the exemptions cover areas including grand jury secrecy, attorney-client and attorney-work-product privileges, law enforcement sensitivity, personal privacy, protection of confidential sources and investigative techniques.
He explained that certain records, such as grand jury proceedings, are protected from public disclosure under US law, while other information is shielded under provisions covering pen-register and trap-and-trace records.
He added that some documents contain legal advice exchanged between FBI and DEA agents and US Department of Justice attorneys, while others were prepared for law enforcement purposes.
The statement further noted that some information was withheld to prevent what the government considered an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, while other redactions were made to protect confidential sources and prevent the disclosure of investigative techniques.
Onanuga said Tinubu had also invoked his privacy rights under an applicable FOIA exemption in the proceedings.
According to him, Greenspan has until September 11 to respond to filings by the defendants and Tinubu, while the FBI, DEA and the President have until September 18 to file further responses.
The presidential aide also dismissed recent comments by Karl von Batten, noting that neither Von Batten nor his client is a party to the proceedings.
“The Nigerian media should note that this case is exclusively within the control of Judge Beryl A. Howell of the United States District Court. She will determine its outcome, based on the evidence, applicable law, and the parties’ arguments, not the wishful preference of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar or his agent, Mr Von Batten,” he said.
Onanuga urged the media to distinguish between “verified court proceedings and partisan speculation” when reporting on the matter.
The case originated from 12 FOIA requests filed by Greenspan between 2022 and 2023. The founder of the legal-records website PlainSite had sought documents from six US federal agencies relating to a Chicago heroin-trafficking investigation from the early 1990s in which Tinubu was named alongside Lee Andrew Edwards, Mueez Abegboyega Akande and Abiodun Agbele.
The agencies initially issued “Glomar” responses, declining to confirm or deny whether the requested records existed. Greenspan subsequently sued in June 2023.
In April 2025, Judge Beryl Howell ruled that the agencies’ refusals were “neither logical nor plausible” and ordered the FBI and DEA to process the records. Tinubu was later permitted to intervene in the case to protect his privacy interests.
