Tinubu Sought to Intervene in U.S. FOIA Case Over Records, Court Documents Show
E-ISSN: 2354-4481
By Epherim Gad Kelechi
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu sought to intervene in a United States federal court case involving requests for government records concerning him, court documents show.
The development follows fresh claims by a U.S.-based firm, Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C., which said it reviewed U.S. government documents relating to the long-running Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation.
According to the firm, Tinubu filed a motion on October 23, 2023, asking to join the case and protect what he described as private financial and law-enforcement information.
The court record confirms that Tinubu moved to intervene in the case, identified as Greenspan v. Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys et al., citing privacy interests in confidential tax records and documents from federal law-enforcement agencies that he argued were protected under the Privacy Act or FOIA exemptions.
The case was brought by Aaron Greenspan under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act against several federal agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Department of State and Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys.
Court records show that Tinubu's motion to intervene was granted on November 27, 2023, by U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell. The order allowed him to participate in the case and directed him to follow the same deadlines applicable to the federal defendants.
The firm's latest statement further alleges that Tinubu sought time to consult with federal agencies before records were released. It characterised the request as part of an effort to protect his privacy interests in documents being sought through the FOIA litigation.
However, the available court record establishes that Tinubu sought intervention and that the court granted the request; it does not, by itself, establish that his intervention directly caused the subsequent withholding or non-disclosure of all requested records.
A 2025 memorandum opinion from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia confirms that the litigation concerned FOIA requests for records relating to Tinubu and Abiodun Agbele. The court noted that the FBI, DEA and CIA had issued responses declining to confirm or deny the existence of certain requested records.
The court documents also show that, on October 23, 2023, the court rejected Greenspan's emergency request seeking to compel the immediate release of records. The court subsequently granted Tinubu's application to intervene on November 27.
The latest allegations therefore centre on Tinubu's participation in the FOIA litigation rather than a court finding that he personally ordered U.S. agencies to suppress or destroy records.
The Presidency had not issued a response to the latest claims by the time of publication.
