n 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.
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