By Johnbosco Agbakwuru
ABUJA— THE Presidency has clarified that the ongoing Freedom of Information Act, FOIA, litigation involving President Bola Tinubu before a United States federal court is a civil records-disclosure dispute and not a criminal case against the President.
It said: “For clarity, the matter is a civil records-disclosure dispute under the United States Freedom of Information Act. It is not a criminal case against President Tinubu, nor has the court found him guilty of any criminal wrongdoing.”
The Presidency in a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga stated that the matter came up 23 years after the American Consulate in Lagos, in a letter dated February 4, 2003, informed the then Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun, that a Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, records check found no criminal arrest records, wants or warrants for then-Governor Bola Tinubu.
According to the statement: “In 2022, Mr. Aaron Greenspan, who is known to work with Nigerian opposition figures including David Hundeyin and Atiku Abubakar, submitted FOIA requests to several United States government agencies seeking records relating to President Tinubu.
