US Judge has set August 21 deadline in Tinubu records FOIA case.
NewsOnline Nigeria reports that United States District Judge Beryl Howell has granted federal authorities four additional days to comply with a court directive concerning records linked to historical investigations involving Nigerian President Bola Tinubu.
The new deadline is August 21, 2026.
The case, filed under the United States Freedom of Information Act, seeks records held by agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Drug Enforcement Administration concerning investigations conducted in the early 1990s.
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According to a statement issued on Tuesday by Von Batten-Montague-York, a Washington-based lobbying firm, the office led by US Attorney Jeanine Pirro requested an additional 10 days to comply, but Judge Howell granted only four.
The firm said the judge noted that the litigation had been pending for more than three years.
“We deeply appreciate US Attorney Pirro and the DOJ’s renewed motivation to release these documents, and we agree with Judge Howell. This case has been pending for three years. The time to release the Tinubu drug-trafficking files is now,” the firm wrote on X.
The litigation was initiated by American transparency advocate Aaron Greenspan, who accused several US agencies of failing to release records requested under FOIA.
In an April 2025 ruling, Howell rejected the FBI and DEA’s refusal to confirm or deny whether relevant records existed, ruling that the agencies had not adequately justified their position under applicable FOIA exemptions. The court subsequently directed them to process responsive records, subject to legally permissible redactions and exemptions. The underlying court decision is available here.
The requested documents relate to historical US government allegations concerning funds held in bank accounts associated with Tinubu and a narcotics-trafficking investigation in Chicago.
The proceedings include a 1993 civil forfeiture case that ended in a negotiated settlement. Tinubu was not criminally convicted in connection with the matter and has consistently denied wrongdoing.
The Presidential Election Petition Court in Nigeria also ruled in 2023 that the US forfeiture proceedings were civil rather than criminal and that petitioners challenging Tinubu’s election had not established that he was convicted of a criminal offence.
The Presidency had yet to respond to the latest reported deadline at the time of filing this report.
