In response to a recent decision by a U.S. District Court ordering the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to make documents linked to President Bola Tinubu public, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Babatunde Ogala said the matter is neither novel nor incriminating.
On April 8, 2025, the court, which was presided over by Judge Beryl Howell, ordered the two agencies to find and process non-exempt data pertaining to many Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests made by Aaron Greenspan, the founder of PlainSite and an American researcher.
Greenspan submitted 12 FOIA requests between 2022 and 2023, requesting information about an early 1990s narcotics ring located in Chicago. President Bola Tinubu, Lee Andrew Edwards, Mueez Abegboyega Akande, and Abiodun Agbele were among the people included in the petitions.
In his response to the news, as reported by The Nation, Ogala claimed that the issue had already been settled and that the current media frenzy was merely sensationalism.
“That issue has long since been resolved. For the time being, it’s just a sensational issue in the media,” Ogala said.
He disclosed that he had heard of Greenspan’s previous attempts to get the same records more than twenty years prior.
Greenspan developed this application in 2003. I just so happened to be in the photo at the time. He clarified, “The FBI, CIA, and DEA were all involved in this action to provide information about reports of any investigation they conducted on the President.”
Ogala claims that President Tinubu was never convicted of any misconduct in the case.
“The President was found not to have been liable for any offense in a long-concluded matter in Chicago,” he stated.
He noted that the forfeiture was not a criminal indictment of Tinubu, although he agreed that certain funds associated with the case had been seized.
However, $460,000 that had previously been forfeited was allegedly among the cash that went via him. Keep in mind that the forfeiture order applied to the money, not the president personally. It went against the assets. That settled the matter,” Ogala added.
He further emphasized that the FBI report being requested had already been made public since 2003 and even featured during the 2023 election petitions in Nigeria.
This report was published in 2003 and was the outcome of an FBI investigation. Even the petitions for the 2023 election made use of it. Ogala emphasized that the Court of Appeal’s ruling did not constitute a conviction.
“So, regarding the latest order for the papers to be released – they had already been released,” he remarked in response to the most recent court decision. It’s an old issue. An old, well-established tale.
Ogala also questioned the veracity of allegations that Tinubu had been charged, citing his repeated visits to the United States.
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He questioned, “Would the President have been permitted to enter the United States later if he had been indicted?” This is a nation capable of pursuing and prosecuting the president of another nation, Panama. And here was one who was going into that country as often as he wanted, despite not having immunity. It is therefore not a problem. Simply put, it’s sensationalism.
He suggested in his conclusion that the story’s resuscitation had political motivations.
“Of course, we are aware of the times we are in, as everyone is banding together against the President and bringing up old issues and stories to try to undermine him,” Ogala stated.
