FBI Seeks to Withhold Tinubu's Records in Court Filing

On August 20, 2023, the FBI submitted an application to the US District Court for the District of Columbia, requesting permission to withhold records related to Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Nigeria's president-elect as of February 2023. The FBI stated that disclosing the information could compromise law enforcement techniques and endanger individuals' safety.

The application pertains to two Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests: one seeking the entire FBI file on Tinubu and the other requesting FBI Form 302 interview records from a 1992-1993 investigation. The FBI invoked several FOIA exemptions to justify withholding portions of the records and requested to submit a confidential declaration to the judge.

The plaintiff, Aaron Greenspan, founder of PlainSite, has pursued records concerning investigations into a Chicago heroin trafficking operation involving multiple individuals, including Tinubu. He filed a lawsuit on June 12, 2023, challenging the agencies' refusal to confirm or deny the existence of the requested records.