The Presidency has said an ongoing Freedom of Information Act case involving President Bola Tinubu in the United States is not a criminal case against him.
Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, in a statement on Thursday, said that the case before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia is “a civil records-disclosure dispute under the United States Freedom of Information Act.”
The case began after Aaron Greenspan filed FOIA requests in 2022 for records relating to Tinubu.
After some U.S. agencies withheld records or declined to confirm their existence, Greenspan filed Civil Action No. 23-1816 in 2023.
The court later allowed Tinubu to join the case as an intervenor.
The FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration have since produced 399 pages of records, with some information removed under U.S. law.
Greenspan is challenging the redactions, while the agencies say some material is protected by rules covering grand jury records, legal advice, privacy, confidential sources and law enforcement techniques.
The Presidency said Tinubu has also asserted his rights under FOIA’s privacy exemption.
“For clarity, the matter is a civil records-disclosure dispute,” Onanuga said in the statement.
“It is not a criminal case against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, nor has the court found him guilty of any criminal wrongdoing.”
The statement also referred to a 2003 American Consulate letter saying an FBI records check found no criminal arrest records, wants or warrants for Tinubu, who was then Lagos governor.
The Presidency stressed that “release or withholding of records under FOIA does not, by itself, establish criminal liability.”
Greenspan has until 11th September to file his response, while the FBI, DEA and Tinubu have until 18th September to respond.
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