US Judge Issues Final Ultimatum To FBI, DEA To Release Details Of Tinubu’s Narcotics Deal
U.S. judge Beryl A. Howell lashed out at the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration over delays in the release of Bola Tinubu’s records based on a 2022 Freedom of Information request by transparency campaigner Aaron Greenspan.
Ms Howell of the U.S. Court for the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C., on February 3 faulted the FBI and DEA’s delay in releasing Tinubu’s records, expected to shed light on a narcotics-trafficking ordeal that made him surrender $460,000 to the U.S. government in the early 1990s. Mr Greenspan, CEO of Plainsite, a data transparency advocacy group, first filed the FOI in June 2022.
The sluggishness of the FBI and DEA to honour court submissions, with incessant postponements, has caused the case to linger for more than three years without any headway in sight, Ms Howell said in her opinion, while issuing fresh ultimatums that must not be missed, according to court filings.
The FBI had in 2023 announced plans to release 2500 pages of Tinubu’s records in monthly batches of 500 pages. But the release was stalled after Tinubu fiercely opposed it and sought a reprieve to protect his records, pending a Nigerian Supreme Court judgment that he was then praying to uphold his election victory. He claimed that he would be “adversely affected” if his FBI records were released prematurely.
Ms Beryl approved his request then, but even though Tinubu’s presidential victory was upheld, the FBI and DEA continued to delay, begging for new dates to process and release the long-sought records anticipated to clarify the decades-long controversy about Tinubu’s role in a cocaine trafficking scheme. The Nigerian president denies any wrongdoing.
The bureau, which ought to submit an updated report in May 2025, adjourned for several months until January 2026, when it requested a new date for February. The latest motion to extend the processing and submission date to February provoked the ire of Ms Howell.
“Defendant FBI has produced no records, despite initially anticipating completion of searches by August 1, 2025, Joint Status Report (May 1, 2025), later pushed to September 1, 2025, [51] Joint Status Report (June 30, 2025); and production to begin by December 1, 2025, [51] Joint Status Report (June 30, 2025), later pushed to January 23, 2026, [62] Joint Status Report (December 1, 2025), and pushed again, with minimal explanation, to February 13, 2025,” Ms Howell said.
“Similar to the current posture of the DEA in this case, the FBI has provided no reliable end date for the processing and production of responsive records,” the judge stressed.
Ms Beryl shot down the DEA’s argument to have released some documents while withholding other pages for over six months. The DEA claimed that the so-called files were “out for consult” with other agencies but failed to state when the documents could be available to Mr Greenspan.
“Defendant DEA has produced some documents; see [54] Joint Status Report (August 7, 2025), but has parroted the same message for the past six months and four joint status reports regarding twelve remaining pages not yet produced,” the judge said.
Consequently, she ordered the DEA to furnish Mr Greenspan with a Vaughn index detailing the reasons for redacting 50 pages and withholding 172 pages of Tinubu’s records.
For the separate 12 records sent to unspecified agencies, Judge Howell ordered that a DEA agent must file sworn affidavits explaining, page by page, when each record was sent to the agencies for consultation, when the review is expected to be completed, and the steps taken so far to expedite the release of Tinubu’s records.
Ms Howell ordered the FBI to provide sworn statements explaining why the bureau has been missing crucial deadlines to frustrate the release of Tinubu’s records as requested by Mr Greenspan.
