Abuja, FCT – The presidency has dismissed as baseless and politically-driven the reports suggesting that a U.S. court recently directed federal agencies—the FBI and DEA—to release documents related to drug investigations involving President Bola Tinubu.
Describing the reports as “mischievous and politically mechanized nonsense,” presidential aide Daniel Bwala insisted the narrative is being pushed to manipulate public opinion ahead of the 2027 elections.
A U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., presided over by Judge Beryl Howell, had ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to produce non-exempt files linked to their past probe of Tinubu. The ruling followed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit initiated by U.S. citizen Aaron Greenspan in June 2023.
According to the court, both the FBI and DEA had failed to demonstrate any substantial privacy concerns that would justify withholding the documents from the public.
Judge Howell, in her judgment, noted: “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 release of such information.”
She further ruled that attempts to prevent public access to the information lacked logical and plausible justification.
This development rekindles an old controversy involving Tinubu, who, in 1993, reportedly forfeited $460,000 to the United States government after authorities linked the money to alleged proceeds of narcotics activity. While this issue surfaced during the 2023 presidential election legal challenges filed by Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, Nigeria’s Presidential Election Petition Court upheld Tinubu’s victory and dismissed the claims.
Commenting on the recent order, Bwala took to his verified X (formerly Twitter) account on Sunday, April 13, to denounce the renewed interest in the case. He stated: “Mischievous and politically mechanized nonsense under the guise of US Court orders FBI and DEA to act. They claim the order was given on Tuesday, but it never saw the light of the media until Sunday.”
He added: “There is nothing these opposition under the auspices of coalition for a wild goose chase cannot try to do to keep relevance. They went to meet @MBuhari and it was reported that he insisted the meeting be held in or on camera so that Nasir El-Rufai would not go and say Buhari is joining SDP and PDP.”
In his conclusion, Bwala criticized opposition figures; “Hard as they try, they are still struggling to convince Nigerians that they have any plan at all, needless alternative plan.”
