The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has warned that releasing certain records sought in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit involving President Bola Tinubu could expose individuals connected to the investigations to violent retaliation.
The warning was contained in the bureau’s latest court filing before Judge Beryl Howell of the US District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington, DC. The case followed FOIA requests by American transparency activist Aaron Greenspan, who is seeking records relating to alleged investigations involving Tinubu dating back to the early 1990s.
The FBI said disclosure of certain names and identifying information could endanger the lives or physical safety of people who participated in or assisted the investigations.
It invoked FOIA Exemption 7(F), which protects law-enforcement records where disclosure could reasonably be expected to endanger an individual’s life or physical safety, alongside other privacy exemptions
According to the bureau, some individuals connected to the investigative records could face retaliation from third parties allegedly linked. The FBI also said the information could be considered derogatory or incriminating by people mentioned in the records.
The development is part of a long-running legal battle over records sought by Greenspan from US agencies, including the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), CIA and other federal bodies.
In April 2025, Judge Howell ruled that the agencies’ earlier refusal to confirm or deny the existence of certain records was improper and ordered them to search for and process non-exempt records.
The FBI has now submitted some of the records to Judge Howell under seal and for private, in-camera review, meaning the materials are currently being examined confidentially by the court rather than released publicly.
