The presidency has reacted to the United States court ruling ordering federal agencies to release records of President Bola Tinubu’s alleged involvement in a drug trafficking case.
In a statement released on Sunday, Bayo Onanuga, presidential media aide, said the court order did not indict Tinubu.
On April 8, the United States court for the district of Columbia ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to release records of their investigations on the alleged involvement of Tinubu in drug trafficking.
Beryl Howell, the district judge, ruled that the FBI and DEA “must search for and process non-exempt records” in line with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
The judgment was delivered following a suit filed by Aaron Greenspan, an American and founder of PlainSite.
Greenspan had filed 12 FOIA requests with six different US federal government agencies to request the criminal investigation information of the Chicago heroin ring that operated in the early 1990s.
Greenspan sought investigative records about four named individuals allegedly associated with the drug ring, including Tinubu.
Reacting to the judgment, Onanuga said that there is nothing new to be revealed since the report of the FBI and DEA on the case had been in the public domain for over 30 years.
The presidential media aide said lawyers are currently examining the ruling of the US court.
“Journalists have sought the presidency’s reaction to the ruling last Tuesday by a Washington DC judge ordering the US FBI and DEA to release reports connected with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” the statement reads.
“Our response is as follows. There is nothing new to be revealed. The report by Agent Moss of the FBI and the DEA report have been in the public space for more than 30 years. The reports did not indict the Nigerian leader. The lawyers are examining the ruling.”
