Two American law enforcement agencies, the FBI and DEA, are requesting a 90-day extension to release documents tied to a decades-old drug case allegedly linked to Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu.
The request was filed in a Washington D.C. court amid ongoing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation brought by transparency advocate Aaron Greenspan. He is seeking official records relating to a drug network reportedly investigated in the 1990s, with Tinubu and three others named in the filings.
According to court documents submitted on May 2, the FBI and DEA said they have “initiated their searches” for responsive records and aim to conclude within 90 days. The agencies are the last remaining defendants in the FOIA case.
Greenspan, however, sharply opposed the delay, arguing that the agencies have already stalled the process for years. “Many responsive documents have already been identified,” he said, calling for immediate release or, at the very least, a two-week deadline.
The lawsuit stems from Greenspan’s multi-agency FOIA requests between 2022 and 2023. Earlier attempts by the FBI and DEA to avoid disclosure using a so-called “Glomar response”, neither confirming nor denying the existence of documents, were rejected by the court.
The agencies and Greenspan also remain divided on when to provide their next update. While the FBI and DEA propose July 31, Greenspan insists on May 31. He is also demanding reimbursement of $440.22 for legal and mailing expenses.
The presiding judge, Beryl Howell, has yet to issue a decision on the extension request.
