By Titilope Adako
The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have requested a 90-day extension to release investigative files linked to an alleged drug case involving President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
KoikiMedia reports that the extension request comes amid a Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) lawsuit filed by Aaron Greenspan, a U.S. citizen and transparency advocate, who is seeking documents relating to a reported drug investigation from the 1990s in which President Tinubu was allegedly implicated.
A U.S. court had earlier ordered the agencies to release the requested documents by May 2.
However, the agencies say they have been unable to meet the deadline and now seek until July 31 to complete the process.
On April 8, Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia rejected the agencies’ use of a “Glomar response”a legal strategy allowing them to neither confirm nor deny the existence of records.and ordered them to proceed with the search.
Greenspan, however, opposed the 90-day extension and instead proposed a shorter window of 14 days for compliance.
Despite his objection, a joint status report filed by U.S. Attorney Edward Martin Jr. and Assistant Attorney M. Jared Littman confirmed that the agencies have commenced their search and estimate that it will take three more months to locate and review all relevant and non-exempt records.
The report reads in part:
“Based on the years-long delay already caused by defendants, and the fact that many responsive documents have already been identified, plaintiff proposes that the FBI and DEA complete their searches and productions by next week, or at least that the FBI and DEA produce unredacted versions of already-identified documents by next week, and the remainder of production in 14 days.
“Defendants provide no rationale whatsoever as to why their search for documents should take 90 days.”
Greenspan also indicated his intention to recover his legal costs, totalling $440.22.
While the agencies propose submitting a joint status report by July 31, Greenspan insists that the next update to the court should come by May 31.
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