Eshioromeh Sebastian, Abuja.
The Presidency has reacted to news of a US court ordering the release of the dossier into alleged drug related offenses on President Bola Tinubu, describing the report as “mischievous and political mechanised nonsense”.
Daniel Bwala, Senior Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Public Communication, on Sunday accused the opposition intended coalition as desperate losers.
Reports on Sunday surfaced that federal court in the United States has ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to search for and disclose records relating to past criminal investigations involving Bola Tinubu, Nigeria’s president.
The ruling was first disclosed by David Hundeyin, a Nigerian independent journalist who is one of the claimants in the case, via his X account.
The judgment, according to the report, delivered on Tuesday by Beryl A. Howell of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, blocks both agencies from continuing to use a legal loophole known as the “Glomar response” to avoid confirming or denying such records exist.
The ruling follows a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by technology entrepreneur Aaron Greenspan and Hundeyin.
They had requested access to documents concerning investigations involving Tinubu, but the FBI and DEA refused to comply, citing privacy protections under FOIA.
Howell, however, found that these privacy claims no longer hold, due to a public acknowledgement made by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) in a 1993 forfeiture case.
Central to her ruling was an affidavit by DOJ official Kevin Moss which confirmed that Tinubu’s US bank accounts — holding over $1.4 million — were under investigation for suspected heroin trafficking connections and money laundering activities.
The affidavit explicitly named the FBI, DEA and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as agencies involved in the probe.
According to the court, the use of that affidavit by the DOJ in its legal filings amounts to an official confirmation that Tinubu was indeed under investigation. As such, the judge held that the FBI and DEA can no longer invoke FOIA’s privacy exemptions to withhold related records.
However, in his response on his X account, Bwala questioned the timing of the alleged court order, noting that while it was purportedly issued on Tuesday, it only surfaced in the media on Sunday. He suggested that the opposition, under what he called the “coalition for a wild goose chase,” was fabricating the story to remain politically relevant.
“Their desperation knows no bounds,” Bwala said. “They tried to drag former President Muhammadu Buhari into their schemes, but he insisted their meeting be held on camera to prevent false narratives—like claims that he was joining the SDP or PDP.”
Bwala further mocked the opposition, stating that despite their efforts, they have failed to present any credible alternative plan to Nigerians. “Hard as they try, they are still struggling to convince anyone that they have a viable agenda,” he added.
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