FBI Confirms 1990s Investigation Into Tinubu as Long Hidden Records Surface

(President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Photo Credit: Guardian Nigeria News)

The FBI has officially confirmed that it investigated Nigeria's President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for alleged drug trafficking in the early 1990s.

The confirmation came in a sworn document filed with a US court on August 28, 2026, as part of a legal case seeking access to FBI records about Tinubu.

The FBI said the records were compiled during an investigation into multiple people for drug trafficking crimes.

A US judge had already ruled in April 2025 that the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration could no longer refuse to acknowledge whether they had records on Tinubu.

Judge Beryl Howell found that the agencies had not given sufficient reasons to keep the investigation's existence secret.

The judge ordered the agencies to release the requested records, except those protected by legal exemptions for privacy, confidential sources, law-enforcement methods, and information that could endanger people's safety.

The FBI continues to withhold parts of the files using these exemptions, saying it cannot publicly explain the full reasons.

The records being sought were requested by American transparency activist Aaron Greenspan.

He asked for Tinubu's complete FBI file and interview records from FBI case files between 1992 and 1993.

The requests were linked to a wider investigation into a Chicago heroin trafficking operation from that same period.

It's important to note that the court ruling did not find that Tinubu committed a drug-trafficking offence or was convicted of any crime.

It only confirmed that an investigation took place decades ago.