by Joseph Omoremi
CHICAGO, IL – A contempt of court charges have been filed against the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) over their refusals to provide on a timely basis details records in their archives of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Nigeria.
The two US agencies (FBI and DEA) “could no longer stonewall plaintiff with Glomar responses to his Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) requests focused generally on Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the sitting President of Nigeria,” before Judge Judge Beryl A. Howell of the the U.S District of Columbia in Washington D.C.
The plaintiff Aaron Greenspan had requested the entire file for President Tinubu, a copy of the interviews with him between 1992-1993, any records from DEA offices in Hammond, Indiana or Washington D.C. offices concerning Nigerian heroin distribution organization between 1988 to 1994 as well as the case file of Abiodun Agbele located in either the Northern Districts of Indiana or the Northern Districts of Illinois between January 1, 1990 and December 31, 1995.
“Despite the Court’s order, Plaintiff has received zero pages with Bola Tinubu’s name on them from any of these requests,” said Greenspan
It was filed more than two years back and on April 8, 2025, Judge Howell ordered both the FBI and DEA to “search and produce non-exempt records” on President Tinubu.
Greenspan described as “outrageous’ the FBI arguments that it lacked the resources to comply with the court order and cited the New York Times reports of July 24, 2025 where justice department officials diverted “hundred of FBI employees and federal prosecutors from their regular duties to go through documents at least four times any references to Mr. Trump and other prominent figures.”
He reminded the court that the FBI’s FOIA request was files two and half years back adding “under the statue, FBI had 20-business days to comply but did not, got sued and lost on summary judgement.
He urged the court to curb the excesses of the Trump administration over the independence of the agencies and ensure that the rule of law works as established by Congress.
Greenspan urged the court to compel both the DEA and FBI to produce the records within 48-hours and stop using unwarranted FOIA exceptions in regards to Nigerian President and Abiodun Agbele.
He also want Judge Howell to clarify “any FOIA exceptions that must be briefed further in a second round of summary judgement motions.”
