JUST IN: US Court Pushes FBI, DEA on Tinubu’s Chicago Drug Records

A U.S. federal court has ordered the FBI and DEA to submit an updated joint status report by August 7, 2025, detailing the timeline for releasing unredacted records related to Bola Tinubu’s alleged involvement in a 1993 Chicago heroin trafficking case.

According to West African Weekly, Judge Beryl A. Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued the directive after reviewing the agencies’ earlier submission on June 30.

In that report, the FBI and DEA had asked for until December 1, 2025, to complete their searches and start releasing records without redactions.

The order is the latest development in an ongoing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, which was filed in 2023 by Aaron Greenspan, founder of Plainsite.org, with support from journalist David Hundeyin, following an investigative report by West Africa Weekly.

Between September 2023 and January 2024, the FBI and DEA released five batches of documents.

However, they redacted all direct references to Tinubu and his family, prompting Greenspan to challenge the redactions in court.

In May 2025, Judge Howell ruled against the agencies, ordering them to remove all redactions and release the documents in full.

The court rejected their argument that releasing the information could harm U.S. national security or that Nigerians had no right to see records about their president.

Despite losing the case, the FBI argued that processing the files would take time due to a backlog of over 10,000 FOIA requests and limited agency resources.

The agency proposed to start interim releases on December 1, 2025, with updates every 30 days until full processing is complete.

Greenspan objected, calling the timeline “manifestly unreasonable.” He urged the court to demand that both agencies begin releasing the documents immediately.

While the FBI and DEA suggested filing their next update by August 14, Greenspan pushed for a deadline of July 31. Judge Howell settled on a middle ground, ordering the new joint status report to be filed by August 7, 2025.

The case continues to attract significant public attention due to the serious nature of the allegations and the involvement of Nigeria’s sitting president.

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