Drug Sose: US Court Order FBI, goddess to release investigative files on Tinubu as presidency says nothing new: Thage

This followed a sentence by a Washington DC judge who directs the two agencies to release non -exempt files connected to the past investigations involving Tinubu.

The Report states that a Federal Court of the United States in the Columbia district ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to issue registers that detailed investigations on alleged international activities on drug trafficking and on the recycling of money connected to President Bola Tinubu and others.

The directive followed a case intended by the American transparency lawyer and the founder of Plainsite.org, Aaron Greenspan, who sought the dissemination of documents pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (Foia).

In his sentence on Tuesday, Judge Beryl Howell said that the public interest to discover the extent of the alleged ties of President Tinubu with a heroine traffic of the 90s trafficking has exceeded any privacy claim that had previously been affirmed by the US authorities.

According to the documents of the Court, Greenspan had sued several US federal agencies, including the FBI, the goddess, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the internal revenue service (IRS), the State Department and the Executive Office for US Lawyers (EUSA). The cause said that these agencies were illegally retaining documents relating to an investigation into a heroin network that operated in Chicago and involving Nigerian citizens.

Among those appointed alongside Tinubu in the alleged drug ring there were Abitun Agbele, Mueez Akande and Lee Andrew Edwards.

Greenspan referred to a cause of decline in 1993 presented by the United States Department of Justice who tries to confiscate $ 460,000 connected to Tinubu, who at the time the authorities were considered proceeds from drug trafficking.

At the center of Greenspan’s legal demand is a sworn entrustment from the special agent of the IRS Kevin Moss, who had outlined how the funds drawn in Tinubu were presumably connected to the proceeds of narcotics and recalled through various financial institutions.

“There is a probable cause to believe that the funds in some bank accounts controlled by Bola Tinubu have been involved in financial transactions in violation of the US laws and represent the proceeds of drug trafficking,” Moss had declared in the security declaration.

The president Tinubu, through legal representatives, had opposed it in October 2023 opposed the release of certain materials, citing concerns on privacy and the dissemination of information on the reserved tax.

However, judge Howell rejected these topics, declaring that these statements were not enough to justify continuous secrecy.

Judge Howell said: “The public interest in learning the possible connection of a president in session with an important drug investigation is undeniably significant.

“The statement that Glomar’s responses were necessary to protect this information from public dissemination is not at this point logic or plausible.”

Reacting to the judgment, Greenspan claimed that the opening must have precedence over the concealment, in particular where public officials are involved.

“Transparency must prevail over secrecy when it comes to public officials. The American public, as well as the Nigerians, deserves to know the truth,” he said in a note.

The Court’s decision should increase control over the past financial relations of Tinubu and rekindle the international interest for a longtime dispute that had previously attracted attention during the Nigeria’s 2023 presidential electoral cycle.

Responding to the media investigations on Sunday, a presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, said that the reports in question have been in public for over 30 years and have not accused the Nigerian leader.

“The journalists sought the reaction of the presidency to the sentence last Tuesday by a Washington DC judge who ordered the FBI and the United States goddess to issue relationships connected to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” wrote Onanuga in a post on social media on Sunday.

“The report of the FBI agent of the FBI and the Dea report has been in public space for over 30 years.

“Reports did not accuse the Nigerian leader.”

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