By Ayomide Otitoju
The Presidency has dismissed reports suggesting that President Bola Tinubu is facing a criminal case in the United States, clarifying that proceedings before a Washington, D.C., court involve a civil dispute over access to government records.
The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, made the clarification in a statement on Thursday, stressing that the proceedings have not resulted in any finding of criminal wrongdoing against Tinubu.
The case was filed by American transparency activist Aaron Greenspan under the United States Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), following his requests for records from several US government agencies.
Onanuga said the matter should not be described as a criminal trial against the Nigerian president.
“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,” he said.
According to Onanuga, Greenspan submitted the FOIA requests in 2022 and later filed Civil Action No. 23-1816 in 2023.
He said Tinubu was subsequently allowed to participate in the proceedings as an intervenor, enabling him to protect his privacy interests in the records being sought.
Onanuga added that the Central Intelligence Agency, Executive Office for United States Attorneys, Department of State, Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service had been removed from the case after securing summary judgment based on the “Glomar defence.”
He explained that the defence allows US government agencies, under certain circumstances, to neither confirm nor deny the existence of particular records.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration remain parties to the suit and have produced 399 pages of records, some of which were redacted under exemptions provided by US law, Onanuga said.
He said the redactions were based on legal protections covering grand jury secrecy, attorney-client privilege, law enforcement considerations and personal privacy.
Some records were also withheld to protect confidential sources and prevent the disclosure of investigative techniques used by law enforcement agencies, he added.
Onanuga said Tinubu had also invoked his privacy rights under a FOIA exemption in the proceedings.
According to the statement, Greenspan has until September 11 to respond to filings by the defendants and the intervenor, while the FBI, DEA and Tinubu have until September 18 to file further responses.
