Citing the need to safeguard law enforcement techniques and people’s safety, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has asked a US court to permit it to keep some records pertaining to an earlier investigation connected to President Bola Tinubu from being made public.
In a motion submitted to the US District Court for the District of Columbia on August 20, the FBI requested that the judge be given additional information in private to support its decision to withhold certain portions of the records.
The agency intends to submit the explanation ex parte and in camera, which means that the information will be given to the judge directly and won’t be included in the public court record.
A public explanation, according to the FBI, would run the risk of disclosing information that it wants to keep private. It stated that while some of the material withheld might reveal the methods and strategies used by law enforcement, other information might put people’s physical safety in jeopardy.
Von Batten-Montague-York, a Washington-based lobbying firm recently hired by Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), made the filing public on X.
Two Freedom of Information Act requests for FBI records related to Tinubu are the source of the dispute. In one request, the bureau’s entire file on the president of Nigeria was requested; in another, interview reports, or Form 302s, pertaining to an FBI case from 1992 and 1993 were sought.
The FBI claimed to have used multiple FOIA exemptions for some of the content. These include clauses intended to safeguard private information, confidential sources, law enforcement tactics, and data that might endanger someone’s safety.
The agency informed the court that it was unable to fully explain its reliance on exemptions 7(E) and 7(F) in its public filings. As a result, it wishes to add a sealed declaration to its public submission so that the judge can directly review the sensitive or classified reasoning.
The FBI stated that it plans to submit the confidential declaration by August 28 if the court grants the request.
The founder of PlainSite, Aaron Greenspan, filed the lawsuit.
Between 2022 and 2023, Greenspan filed twelve FOIA requests to six federal agencies, requesting documents pertaining to four individuals: Tinubu, Lee Andrew Edwards, Mueez Abegboyega Akande, and Abiodun Agbele.
A Glomar response is the term used in US law to describe the initial refusal of several agencies to verify the existence of responsive records. After the Justice Department’s Office of Information Policy upheld the agencies’ positions, Greenspan filed a lawsuit after challenging the rulings.
Judge Beryl Howell ruled in April 2025 that the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration could no longer use the Glomar response. The judge concluded that the agencies had not shown a strong enough legal justification for hiding the existence of records pertaining to Tinubu.
An ongoing dispute over the records’ release coincides with the most recent FBI application.
In response to a court order, the Justice Department requested a 10-day extension; however, Howell only granted four more days, resulting in a new deadline of August 21.
Later, Tinubu’s attorneys joined the DOJ’s request for an extension, but the judge apparently turned it down.
The FBI is now seeking to give the court, behind closed doors, its fuller justification for retaining portions of the records, particularly information it says could expose sensitive investigative practices or endanger individuals.
