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In a twist of events, the long-awaited records expected to be released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on an alleged drug investigation involving President Bola Tinubu will no longer be released today.
In April, Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia had ordered the FBI and DEA to release the documents by May 2, 2025.
But on Thursday, May 1, the agencies, in a joint status report filed with the court, requested a 90-day extension to produce the documents.
The case stems from a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed in June 2023 by U.S. transparency activist Aaron Greenspan.
The lawsuit sought access to investigative records from several U.S. federal agencies regarding a 1990s drug trafficking and money laundering case in Chicago allegedly linked to Tinubu and others.
According to court documents, Greenspan filed 12 separate FOIA requests between 2022 and 2023 directed at the FBI, DEA, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), U.S. Department of State, U.S. Attorneys’ Offices in Indiana and Illinois, and the CIA. The requests focused on obtaining documents about four individuals: Bola Tinubu, Mueez Akande, Lee Andrew Edwards, and Abiodun Agbele, all allegedly associated with the drug ring.
However, in their latest filing, the FBI and the DEA said they needed more time to complete their searches.
The report reads, “Aaron Greenspan (“Plaintiff”) and Defendants Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the only remaining defendants in this case, respectfully submit the following joint status report proposing a schedule to govern further proceedings, pursuant to the Court’s Order of April 8, 2025 (ECF №47).
“Pursuant to the court’s order, the defendants, FBI and DEA must search for and produce non-exempt records responsive to the plaintiff’s FOIA requests (FBI Requests Nos. 1588244–000 and 1593615- 000, and DEA Request Nos. 22–00892-F and 24–00201-F).
“The FBI and DEA have initiated their searches for responsive, non-exempt, reasonably segregable portions of records requested by the plaintiff and anticipate completing their searches in ninety days.”
But the request did not go down well with Greenspan as the activist proposed a much shorter deadline, arguing that the agencies had already delayed the process for years.
“Given the years-long delay already caused by the defendants and the fact that many responsive documents have already been identified, the plaintiff proposes that the FBI and DEA complete their searches and productions by next week, or, at the very least, produce unredacted versions of the already-identified documents by next week, with the remainder completed in 14 days. The defendants provide no rationale for why their search for documents should take 90 days.
“The FBI and DEA have initiated their searches for responsive, non-exempt, reasonably segregable portions of records requested by the plaintiff and anticipate completing their searches in ninety days,” Greenspan said.
