Tinubu in more US bombshells as FBI releases 500 documents on him every month until 2027
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Bola Tinubu remains sleepless in Aso Rock with more bombshells coming from across the Atlantic, as the FBI in the United States begins the release this month of 25,000 documents on him at 500 per month for the next 50 months until 2027.
The US State Department said it will equally start turning over 450 pages from its archive on Nigeria’s President every six weeks, also beginning this month.
Besides, the US Internal Revenue Service, Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) all have pledged to release thousands of pages of records on him in compliance with the law.
The world already knows Tinubu has a moral deficit that has dragged him more than two decades in public life, and he and his loyalists are bound to be jittery in anticipation of any sleaze on him being exposed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a US federal police, and the other agencies.
There is no hint yet of whether or not the documents will jeopardise Tinubu’s job as Nigerian President, Africa’s hottest office, but what we know is they are likely to date back more than four decades to when he first set foot in Yankee country in the mid 1970s.
Nigerians want to know why, and Tinubu himself should be wary that, the US federal police possess a trove of thousands of documents on him, a news coming on the backdrop of his narcotics dealing proven in court – and alleged identify theft, age falsification, certificate forgery, and perjury, in other court filings in both Nigeria and the US.
Tinubu is currently enmeshed in alleged certificate forgery based on the release of his academic records by Chicago State University (CSU), ordered in a US court ruling obtained by Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Atiku’s allegations against him revolve around identity theft, age falsification, certificate forgery, and perjury.
One of the documents shows Tinubu, a male, allegedly used a transcript from Southwest College Chicago belonging to “Bola A. Tinubu”, a “female”, to gain admission into CSU in 1977.
Tinubu had argued in a US court appeal that releasing his CSU records would cause him “severe and irreparable harm” – and by extension cause the loss of his job as President if the allegation of certificate forgery is proven at the Supreme Court in Nigeria.
Atiku has appealed to the Supreme Court the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) on September 6 which upheld the election of Tinubu as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The FBI explained last month it would release its documents on Tinubu based on a request filed in 2022 under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by Aaron Greenspan, an American, in collaboration with Nigerian investigative journalist David Hundeyin.
Greenspan runs PlainSite, a website on anti-corruption and transparency in public service.
The FBI dossier on Tinubu is likely to be different from his immigration documents the US authorities previously declined to release, saying if they would do so at all, it would not be earlier than January 2026.
The FBI disclosed last month it would release 25,000 documents on Tinubu beginning in October, at 500 documents per month, in compliance with court ruling on the FOIA request, per reporting by Peoples Gazette.
“FBI has identified a total of approximately 2500 pages potentially responsive to FOIA requests 1553430-00 and 1587544-000,” the agency said in a status report docketed on September 11 at the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington, DC.
“FBI plans a processing schedule of 500 pages per month, with an initial release anticipated by the end of October 2023.”
The documents will likely clarify outstanding questions about Tinubu, especially his forfeiture of $460,000 over drug dealing in Chicago in the 1990s.
__________________________________________________________________
Related articles:
Tinubu asks US court to stop release of CSU transcript showing “his” gender
Tinubu says CSU records release will cause him ‘severe and irreparable harm’, appeals court ruling
Admission transcript of ‘Bola A. Tinubu’ belongs to a ‘female’, CSU confirms
__________________________________________________________________
Release of immigration and other records
US authorities previously argued in July the immigration and other records of Tinubu would not be released until 2026, according to court documents filed in the original response to the FIOA request by Greenspan.
Both the State Department and the FBI cited “unusual circumstances” for their refusal to release the records to the public, saying even if they were to release them, it would be until at least January 2026.
Greenspan then filed a lawsuit over the matter before Judge Beryl Howell of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington, DC.
A ruling by the court led to the agencies agreeing to release the documents from October this year.
FOI request background
PlainSite, the website run by Greenspan, holds files from American courts and institutions, and he had filed multiple requests to US authorities in possession of documents that could help answer crucial questions about Tinubu.
It is already public knowledge that, Tinubu, 71, helped launder proceeds of drug trafficking in the US in 1993. He forfeited $460,000 at the time, according to court documents.
The State Department is believed to have records of whether or not the person who applied for a US visa and travelled to the US as Bola Tinubu in the 1970s is the same person running Nigeria today.
The FBI could shed more light on how Tinubu became involved in drugs and other alleged criminal charges he might have faced but which are not in public records.
The FBI sent a message to Greenspan on 4 August 2022, saying: “Please be advised that ‘unusual circumstances’ apply to the processing of your request.”
“This office will not be able to respond within the 20 days provided by the statute due to unusual circumstances,” the State Department said in a letter to Greenspan dated 15 May 2023.
But on 22 March 2023, the FBI explained it would try release all documents relating to Tinubu in its possession, but not until January 2026 at the earliest.
Other US agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration, also said they wouldn’t release his documents on the same grounds.
The FBI argued Greenspan “failed to demonstrate that the requested information is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations and activities of the government.”
Greenspan responded by detailing how Tinubu’s drug forfeiture case in Chicago drew the most eyes to the FBI website over the past year. The website has over 15 million records.
