According to Peoples Gazette, authorities have revealed in court documents that President Bola Tinubu’s criminal and immigration records the United States has won’t be released until 2026.
The U.S. State Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation cited ‘unusual circumstances’ for not releasing the records to the public. After a freedom of information request, the U.S. authorities disclosed that even if they were to release the records, it would be done in January 2026.
A civil lawsuit has been filed over the matter before Judge Beryl Howell of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C.
American public disclosure activist, Aaron Greenspan, filed a request to the FBI, State Department, Department of Treasury, and Drug Enforcement Administration, among federal and local agencies, to seek an urgent release of Tinubu’s immigration and criminal records.
The filings came after Tinubu stated in court that he did not commit any crime during his decades-long residency in the United States. Also, Tinubu asserted ownership of his identity, despite solid indications, he might have altered names and education records in the past.
Tinubu’s identity and education records have omissions and contradictions that he has not explained to Nigerians. For example, Tinubu had said under oath to the electoral office INEC, while contesting for Lagos governor in 1999, that he attended University of Chicago.
The university has disowned Tinubu since. Another American school, Chicago State University, confirmed Bola Tinubu attended the school but did not reveal whether it was the Nigerian president as documents from the school revealed that the person bearing Bola Tinubu was a female student who attended the school in the 70s.
Also, Tinubu stated under oath in 1999 that he attended primary and secondary schools in Lagos and Ibadan in the 1950s and 1960s, but he did not add these claims to his latest INEC application form. He did not reveal why he removed the claims.
In 1993 U.S. court documents, Tinubu was named a drug trafficking proceeds launderer. He forfeited $460,000 at the time.
The records became a major part of the ongoing challenge to Mr Tinubu’s election as president of Nigeria before a tribunal hearing election petitions in Abuja. This urged Greenspan, who operates PlainSite, a website that keeps files from American courts and institutions, to file multiple requests to U.S. authorities in possession of documents that could offer clarity to some of the crucial questions going through the minds of Nigerians.
It is believed that the State Department have records of whether or not the person that applied for a U.S. visa and travelled as Bola Tinubu in the 1970s is the same Tinubu that is running Nigeria today.
The FBI could shed more light on how Tinubu got involved in drugs in the U.S. and other criminal charges that he might have faced but which were not known to the public.
In a letter written to Greenspan on May 15, 2023, the State Department said: “This office will not be able to respond within the 20 days provided by the statute due to unusual circumstances.”
On August 4, 2022, the FBI sent a message to Greenspan. The message read: “Please be advised that ‘unusual circumstances’ apply to the processing of your request.”
Meanwhile, on March 22, 2023, the FBI said it would try to release every document relating to Tinubu in its possession, but it won’t be until January 2026 at the earliest. Other agencies like the Department of Treasury’s Internal Revenue Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration, also said they wouldn’t release the documents on the same grounds.
The FBI also disclosed that Greenspan “failed to demonstrate that the requested information is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations and activities of the government.” The activist quickly responded and detailed how Tinubu’s drug forfeiture case in Chicago drew the most eyes to his organization’s website over the past year. The website has over 15 million hits.
The agencies have been summoned to appear in court to explain why records about a Nigerian president were deemed unusual and inconsequential to be released to the public.
Recently, Assistant U.S. attorney, Jared Littman, entered an appearance as the lawyer representing all the agencies, and quickly requested a delay until August 28, 2023, to file a response to the lawsuit, that was instituted on June 12, 2023.
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