The Federal Bureau of Investigation has asked a United States court for permission to submit a confidential declaration explaining why it is withholding some records linked to allegations concerning President Bola Tinubu and a drug-trafficking investigation.
The FBI made the request in an application dated August 20 before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, arguing that it could not publicly disclose the full basis for withholding some of the information.
An ex parte, in camera declaration is a confidential submission made privately to a judge for consideration and is not placed on the public record.
The application was published on X on Thursday by Von Batten-Montague-York, a Washington-based lobbying firm recently hired by former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.
The FBI said it had invoked several exemptions under the US Freedom of Information Act in response to requests for records relating to Tinubu from 1992 to 1993.
It said releasing some of the withheld information could disclose law-enforcement investigative techniques and potentially endanger the life or physical safety of an individual.
The agency said it had received requests for Tinubu’s FBI file and interview records from FBI Case No. 245-IP-71386-UUUUUU covering the 1992–1993 period.
The FBI said it had invoked FOIA exemptions 6, 7(C), 7(D), 7(E) and 7(F), but could not publicly provide the full basis for applying exemptions 7(E) and 7(F).
It therefore asked the court to allow it to submit an under-seal declaration explaining the reasons for the withholding.
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The FBI said that, if approved, it would submit the confidential declaration by August 28.
The case was brought by Aaron Greenspan, an American businessman and founder of PlainSite, who filed multiple FOIA requests seeking records relating to investigations into a Chicago heroin ring that operated in the early 1990s.
Greenspan’s requests included records concerning Tinubu and three other individuals he alleged were linked to the drug ring.
In April 2025, Judge Beryl Howell ruled that the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration’s refusal to confirm or deny the existence of the requested records was improper and ordered the agencies to lift their “Glomar” responses.
