The Presidency on Sunday rejected any idea of new revelations arising from a United States court order directing the Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration to release files on President Bola Tinubu’s previous investigation.
The records, which date back to a drug trafficking investigation in Chicago in the early 1990s, the administration maintained, have been publicly available for more than thirty years and presented no new issues for the President.
Recall that a US ruling by Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court in Washington, DC, ordered both agencies to conduct searches and process non-exempt documents in response to Freedom of Information Act requests filed by American legal researcher Aaron Greenspan.
Part of the court’s statement read “The FBI and DEA have both officially confirmed investigations of Tinubu relating to the drug trafficking ring,”
Mr. Bayo Onanuga, the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, responded to the situation by saying, “There is nothing new to reveal.” The FBI and DEA report by Agent Moss has been in the public domain for over 30 years. As to the reports, the Nigerian leader was not found guilty.
While claiming that the records don’t provide any new insight into Tinubu’s past, Onanuga acknowledged that government attorneys were examining the US judge’s decision.
Speaking on Sunday’s episode of Channels Television’s Politics Today, Daniel Bwala, the President’s Special Adviser on Policy Communication, said that the information being requested would not differ from what was already publicly available.
He claimed that the media’s and the opposition’s interpretation of the news was mostly responsible for the buzz surrounding it.
“There’s nothing new at all,” he remarked. Since there isn’t really anything they are looking for that hasn’t been revealed, let’s wait until May 2. I mean, it’s meant to start a pointless discussion as though there were a problem.
Meanwhile, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who challenged Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election, has applauded the ruling of the U.S. court. For the benefit of Nigeria’s reputation abroad, he contended, Tinubu “should step aside” if the revealed documents show the President is unable to serve.
In a statement sent through his media assistant, Paul Ibe, Atiku stated that “anyone occupying the Presidency must not be of tainted character.” The whole mess, he continued, stressed the necessity of “full disclosure” on issues like academic credentials and purported forfeitures.
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