Nigeria says Tinubu US FOIA case is civil not criminal

The Nigerian Presidency has issued a statement clarifying that an ongoing Freedom of Information Act case in a United States federal court is a civil records-dispute and not a criminal proceeding against President Bola Tinubu. The clarification, released on September 3, 2026, by Special Adviser on Information and Strategy Bayo Onanuga, comes amid public commentary and reports about the litigation. The case, filed as Civil Action No. 231816 before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, originated from FOIA requests submitted in 2022 by Aaron Greenspan to several U.S. government agencies seeking records related to President Tinubu. After some agencies withheld records or declined to confirm their existence, Greenspan filed the lawsuit in 2023. The court subsequently allowed President Tinubu to participate in the proceedings as an intervenor. According to the Presidency's statement, the U.S. agencies involved initially invoked the "Glomar defense," a legal position that permits agencies to neither confirm nor deny the existence of certain records to protect sensitive information.