The Presidency has said the ongoing case involving President Bola Tinubu before a United States federal court is a civil dispute over the disclosure of government records and not a criminal case.
In a statement on Thursday, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said the suit was filed under the US Freedom of Information Act, FOIA, by American transparency campaigner Aaron Greenspan.
The case, filed in 2023 before the US District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks access to records held by several US government agencies relating to Tinubu.
The Presidency said the remaining dispute centres on records produced by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, and Drug Enforcement Administration, DEA, and whether some redactions and withheld information are lawful.
However, previous court proceedings confirmed that the records sought relate to a historical criminal investigation involving Tinubu and other individuals in the early 1990s. In an April 2025 ruling, Judge Beryl Howell ordered the FBI and DEA to process relevant records after finding that the existence of the investigation had already been officially acknowledged.
The ruling did not establish that Tinubu committed any crime or amount to a criminal conviction.
Recent filings in the case remain focused on whether additional records should be released under US FOIA laws.
The Presidency urged the media and the public to distinguish the records-disclosure lawsuit from a criminal prosecution, saying the court would determine the outstanding issues based on the applicable law and evidence.
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