2 weeks Ago By New Telegraph
Following the court order directing the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to release files on President Bola Tinubu’s past investigation, the Presidency has debunked any speculations of fresh revelations. New Telegraph had earlier reported that Judge Beryl Howell of the United States (US) District Court in Washington, DC, instructed both agencies to conduct searches and process non-exempt documents in response to Freedom of Information Act requests filed by American legal researcher Aaron Greenspan. A copy of the court decision, obtained on Sunday, shows that the FBI and DEA must comply with Greenspan’s FOIA submissions related to a Chicago-based narcotics ring from the early 1990s—“involving Tinubu and three others: Lee Andrew Edwards, Mueez Akande, and Abiodun Agbele.
” “The FBI and DEA have both officially confirmed investigations of Tinubu relating to the drug trafficking ring,” the court stated, adding that “privacy interests are outweighed by the public interest in the release of such information.” Reacting to the development on Sunday, the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga, insisted that the records, which date back to a drug trafficking investigation in Chicago from the early 1990s, have been publicly available for over three decades and posed no fresh concerns for the President. The report by Agent Moss of the FBI and the DEA has been in the public space for more than 30 years.
The reports did not indict the Nigerian leader.” Onanuga confirmed that government lawyers were reviewing the US judge’s ruling, arguing that the documents add no fresh dimension to Tinubu’s past. The order, issued by Judge Howell on April 8, mandates the FBI and DEA to conduct searches and process any non-exempt documents in response to Freedom of Information Act requests filed by American legal researcher Aaron Greenspan.
Greenspan, who runs the transparency platform PlainSite, submitted 12 FOIA requests between 2022 and 2023. His filings sought information on a Chicago-based drug trafficking operation from the early 1990s and included requests for records concerning Tinubu and three others: Lee Andrew Edwards, Mueez Akande, and Abiodun Agbele. Until now, the FBI and DEA had issued “Glomar responses,” declining to confirm or deny the existence of the records.
However, the court ruled that such responses were not justified in this case. It stated that both agencies had effectively confirmed the existence of investigations involving Tinubu and must now proceed with releasing relevant materials unless they are legally exempt. In her decision, Judge Howell stressed that any potential privacy concerns were outweighed by the public interest in the case.
The ruling noted that the agencies failed to provide sufficient justification for withholding the information. The judgment read, “The FBI and DEA have both officially confirmed investigations of Tinubu relating to the drug trafficking ring. “Any privacy interests implicated by the FOIA requests to the FBI and DEA for records about Tinubu are overcome by the public interest in the release of such information.
“Since the FBI and DEA have provided no information to establish that a cognizable privacy interest exists in keeping secret the fact that Tinubu was a subject of criminal investigation. “They have failed to meet their burden to sustain their Glomar responses and provide an additional reason why these responses must be lifted.” While the FBI and DEA were ordered to comply with the FOIA requests, the court upheld the CIA’s decision to withhold records after Greenspan acknowledged the agency had valid grounds under existing law.
All parties involved have been instructed to file a joint report on the progress of the case by May 2, 2025. The judge ruled, “For the reasons discussed above, the plaintiff is entitled to summary judgment as to each of the four Glomar responses asserted by defendants FBI and DEA, while defendant CIA is entitled to summary judgment since its Glomar response was properly asserted. “Accordingly, the FBI and DEA must search for and process non-exempt records responsive to the FOIA requests directed to these agencies.
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