The Presidency has moved to clarify the nature of the legal proceedings involving President Bola Tinubu in a United States federal court, saying the matter concerns access to government records and does not amount to a criminal trial of the Nigerian president.
In a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the Presidency said the case arose from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests filed by Aaron Greenspan in 2022 for records relating to Tinubu. It said Greenspan subsequently instituted Civil Action No. 23-1816 at the US District Court for the District of Columbia in 2023 after some US agencies withheld records or declined to confirm whether certain records existed.
The Presidency explained that the court later allowed Tinubu to participate in the proceedings as an intervenor. It stressed that the president was not being prosecuted, adding that the litigation should not be interpreted as a finding of criminal liability or guilt against him.
It also drew attention to a February 4, 2003 letter from the US Consulate in Lagos to the then Inspector-General of Police, Tafa Balogun, stating that an FBI records check had found no criminal arrest records, wants or warrants for Tinubu, who was then governor of Lagos State.
According to the Presidency, several US agencies involved in the case invoked what is known as the “Glomar defence”, a recognised legal position under US law that allows agencies to decline to confirm or deny whether particular investigative records exist. The defence, it explained, is intended to protect sensitive law-enforcement information, including investigative methods and sources.
The US District Court subsequently granted summary judgment in favour of the CIA, Executive Office for United States Attorneys, Department of State, Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service. The Presidency maintained that the proceedings remain a civil records-disclosure matter under US FOIA law and should not be presented as a criminal case against President Tinubu.
