The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation has asked a federal court in Washington, DC, for permission to submit a confidential declaration explaining why some records relating to an investigation involving President Bola Tinubu should remain withheld from the public.
The request was contained in an application dated August 20, 2026, filed before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
The FBI said it could not publicly disclose its full reasons for withholding some of the information sought under the Freedom of Information Act.
The agency is asking to make an ex parte, in camera submission, meaning the declaration would be presented privately to the judge and kept off the public record.
The application was made in response to Freedom of Information Act requests for records relating to Tinubu from 1992 and 1993. The documents were sought by Aaron Greenspan, an American businessman and founder of PlainSite.
According to the FBI, releasing some of the withheld information “would, among other things, disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations and/or could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual”.
The agency said the records sought included the “entire FBI file for Bola Ahmed Tinubu” as well as FBI Form 302 interview records involving Tinubu in a case covering the 1992–1993 period.
The FBI said it had relied on several exemptions under the US FOIA, including Exemptions 6, 7(C), 7(D), 7(E) and 7(F), to withhold portions of the records.
It further stated that it could not put its full justification for relying on Exemptions 7(E) and 7(F) on the public record.
“The FBI has determined that it cannot provide on the public record the full basis for the application of Exemptions 7(E) and 7(F) to certain withholdings and that, therefore, an ex parte, under seal declaration is necessary,” the agency said.
If the court grants the request, the FBI said it would submit the confidential declaration by August 28.
The development comes amid an ongoing legal battle over the release of US government records relating to allegations that Tinubu was connected to a drug-trafficking investigation in the 1990s.
Greenspan filed 12 FOIA requests between 2022 and 2023 with six US federal agencies, seeking records connected to investigations into a Chicago heroin ring that operated in the early 1990s.
He sought records concerning four people he alleged were connected to the investigation, including Tinubu, Lee Andrew Edwards, Mueez Adegboyega Akande and Abiodun Agbele.
Five of the agencies initially issued what is known as a “Glomar response”, refusing to confirm or deny whether the requested records existed.
Greenspan subsequently challenged the responses and filed a lawsuit in June 2023 against the agencies.
The FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Internal Revenue Service, Executive Office for United States Attorneys and Department of State were initially named as defendants, while the Central Intelligence Agency was later added to the case.
In April 2025, US District Judge Beryl Howell ruled that the Glomar responses issued by the FBI and DEA were “improper and must be lifted”.
Howell held that the agencies had failed to establish a sufficient privacy interest to justify keeping secret the fact that Tinubu had been a subject of a criminal investigation.
The latest application followed a request by the US Department of Justice for additional time to respond to a court order concerning the release of the records.
The DOJ had sought a 10-day extension, but Howell granted only four additional days, setting August 21 as the deadline.
Tinubu, through his legal team, subsequently joined the DOJ’s request for more time, but the judge declined the request.