Presidency says Tinubu’s US court case is not a criminal trial

The Presidency has said the ongoing court case involving President Bola Tinubu in the United States is not a criminal trial, insisting that the litigation is a civil dispute over access to government records under the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

This was disclosed on Thursday, September 3, 2026, by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, amid renewed public attention on court filings involving records released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

On August 30, it was reported that new court filings involving the FBI and the DEA revealed that an FBI search responsive to requests concerning President Bola Tinubu produced 399 pages of documents, bringing renewed attention to the long-running FOIA case involving records relating to the Nigerian president.

What they are saying

The Presidency said recent reports and public commentary had wrongly portrayed the ongoing litigation as a criminal case against Tinubu.

• “For clarity, the matter is a civil records-disclosure dispute under the United States Freedom of Information Act. It is not a criminal case against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, nor has the court found him guilty of any criminal wrongdoing,” the statement said.

According to the Presidency, the case began in 2022 after Aaron Greenspan submitted FOIA requests to several US government agencies seeking records relating to Tinubu.

Greenspan subsequently filed a lawsuit in 2023 after some of the agencies withheld records or declined to confirm or deny their existence. Tinubu was later permitted by the court to participate in the proceedings as an intervenor.

The Presidency said several agencies were subsequently removed from the case, leaving aspects of the litigation involving the FBI and DEA for further…