The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has asked a federal court in Washington, D.C., to allow it to file a confidential explanation for withholding certain records relating to allegations involving President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and a drug-trafficking investigation dating back to the early 1990s.

The request was contained in an August 20 application filed before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, where the FBI argued that it could not publicly disclose the full basis for withholding some of the records.

The agency is seeking permission to submit an “ex parte, in camera” declaration, meaning a confidential submission presented privately to the judge and kept outside the public record.

The application was made in response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests filed by Aaron Greenspan, an American businessman and founder of PlainSite.

Greenspan had sought records relating to Tinubu, including his FBI file and interview records allegedly connected to an FBI case from 1992 to 1993.

According to the FBI, it relied on several FOIA exemptions, including exemptions 6, 7(C), 7(D), 7(E) and 7(F), to withhold portions of the requested material.

The agency said releasing the information could reveal law-enforcement investigative techniques and procedures and could potentially endanger the life or physical safety of an individual.

In its application, the FBI said it had determined that it could not place the complete justification for invoking exemptions 7(E) and 7(F) on the public record.

It therefore asked the court to permit the submission of a sealed declaration containing the additional reasons.

“If granted, the FBI intends to submit the ex parte, under seal declaration on or before August 28,” the agency said.

The development comes amid an ongoing legal battle over the release of US government records relating to investigations allegedly connected to Tinubu.

Greenspan filed multiple FOIA requests between 2022 and 2023 with six US federal agencies, seeking records concerning investigations into a Chicago heroin ring that operated during the early 1990s.

The requests covered four individuals whom Greenspan alleged were connected to the investigation, including Tinubu, Lee Andrew Edwards, Mueez Adegboyega Akande and Abiodun Agbele.

Several agencies initially responded with what is known as a “Glomar response”—a refusal to confirm or deny whether responsive records existed.

After challenging the responses through the Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy, Greenspan proceeded to court.

He filed a lawsuit in June 2023 against the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Internal Revenue Service, Executive Office for United States Attorneys and Department of State. The Central Intelligence Agency was later added to the case.

In April 2025, US District Judge Beryl Howell ruled that the Glomar responses issued by the FBI and DEA were improper and ordered that they be lifted.

Howell found that the agencies had not established a sufficient privacy interest to justify keeping secret the fact that Tinubu was allegedly a subject of a criminal investigation.

The judge also held that the FBI and DEA had failed to provide adequate evidence to support their continued refusal to confirm or deny the existence of the requested records.

The latest filing comes after the US Department of Justice sought an additional 10 days to respond to a court order concerning the release of records linked to the allegations.

Howell granted only four additional days, setting August 21 as the revised deadline.

Tinubu’s legal team subsequently joined the DOJ in seeking a further 10-day extension, but the judge rejected the request.