The Federal Bureau of Investigation has asked a United States court for permission to withhold parts of records linked to an old investigation involving President Bola Tinubu, citing concerns over law-enforcement methods and the safety of individuals.
The request was made in a motion filed on August 20 at the US District Court for the District of Columbia, where the FBI also sought permission to provide additional reasons for withholding the documents privately to the judge.
The agency wants to submit the information ex parte and in camera, which would allow the judge to review the material privately without making it part of the public court record.
The FBI argued that publicly disclosing the details could expose investigative techniques and procedures used by law-enforcement agencies. It also said some of the information could reveal details that may place certain individuals at risk.
The latest development relates to Freedom of Information Act requests seeking FBI records connected to Tinubu. One request sought the bureau’s complete records on the Nigerian president, while another focused on interview reports, known as Form 302s, from an FBI investigation conducted in 1992 and 1993.
The FBI said it had relied on several exemptions under the FOIA law to withhold portions of the records. The exemptions cover areas including personal privacy, confidential sources, investigative techniques and information whose disclosure could threaten the safety of individuals.
According to the agency, its public court filing could not provide enough detail to fully explain its reliance on exemptions 7(E) and 7(F) without revealing the very information it is seeking to protect.
It therefore asked the court to allow it to submit a separate confidential declaration containing further details for the judge’s consideration.
If the request is granted, the FBI said it plans to submit the sealed declaration by August 28.
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The legal dispute originated from requests filed by Aaron Greenspan, founder of PlainSite, who has been seeking government documents connected to a Chicago-based heroin trafficking investigation from the early 1990s.
Greenspan submitted 12 FOIA requests to six federal agencies between 2022 and 2023. The requests sought records relating to four individuals, including Tinubu, Lee Andrew Edwards, Mueez Abegboyega Akande and Abiodun Agbele.
Several federal agencies initially declined to confirm whether they had records matching the requests. Such a response is commonly known under US law as a Glomar response, which allows an agency to refuse to confirm or deny the existence of records in certain circumstances.
Greenspan challenged the agencies’ decisions and eventually went to court after the Justice Department’s Office of Information Policy upheld their positions.
In April 2025, US District Judge Beryl Howell ruled against the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration over their continued reliance on the Glomar response. The judge found that the agencies had failed to establish a sufficient legal basis for refusing to confirm whether records relating to Tinubu existed.
The latest application therefore forms part of the continuing legal battle over access to the records.
The Justice Department had previously requested an additional 10 days to respond to a court order, but Howell granted only four extra days and set August 21 as the new deadline.
Tinubu’s legal representatives later joined the Justice Department in seeking more time, although the judge reportedly rejected the longer extension.
The FBI is now seeking to provide its fuller justification privately to the court, particularly on information it believes could expose sensitive investigative practices or put individuals at risk.
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