FBI RECORDS: Nigerians have legitimate interest in knowing Tinubu’s background, character, Atiku tells US Agency
*Says, ‘Protect your agents, but don’t protect truth from Nigerians’
By KEMI KASUMU
“Atiku’s Nigeria will not measure economic success by how much suffering citizens can endure,” he said.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has challenged the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) over its decision to withhold some records relating to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, urging the agency not to use the protection of lives as a blanket justification for keeping potentially releasable information from the public.
Atiku, through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said Nigerians have a legitimate democratic interest in information concerning the background and character of the person occupying the country’s highest political office.
The former vice president was reacting to the FBI’s position that releasing some records could potentially endanger lives.
“The FBI says disclosure could endanger lives. Which lives? Nigerians are already dying,” Shaibu quoted Atiku as saying in a statement issued on Friday, August 22, 2026.
Atiku said Nigerians were already grappling with insecurity, economic hardship and rising living costs, citing terrorism, banditry, hunger, healthcare expenses and other economic pressures.
He also criticised the removal of fuel subsidy, arguing that it had contributed to increased transportation and food costs as well as greater pressure on households and businesses.
“Danger to life is therefore not a legal abstraction to Nigerians. It is a daily reality in our homes, hospitals, farms, highways and communities,” he said.
Atiku also renewed his pledge to restore fuel subsidy if elected president in 2027, saying his proposed intervention would be targeted, transparently financed, capped and independently audited.
He argued that fuel prices have wider economic implications because transportation costs affect food prices, while energy costs influence production, employment and household incomes.
“Atiku’s Nigeria will not measure economic success by how much suffering citizens can endure,” he said.
‘Protect your agents, but don’t protect truth from Nigerians’
Addressing the FBI directly, Atiku said he was not asking the agency to compromise undercover operations, confidential sources or sensitive investigative methods.
“Protect your agents. Protect your sources. Protect legitimate investigative methods. Redact whatever American law genuinely requires you to redact,” he said.
However, he urged the FBI not to extend legitimate secrecy protections to information that could lawfully be disclosed and which he said was relevant to Nigerians’ right to democratic accountability.
According to Atiku, Nigerians were not asking the United States to interfere in Nigeria’s political affairs but were seeking access to information that could legitimately be made public concerning a president with significant influence over their lives.
“Our demand of American law enforcement is not a call to interfere in Nigeria’s politics. It is a humanitarian and democratic appeal rooted in the principle that people have a right to information legitimately available about those who exercise enormous power over their lives,” he said.
He therefore urged the FBI to release any records that could legally be disclosed without compromising investigators, confidential sources or legitimate law-enforcement operations.
“If information can lawfully be released without endangering investigators, confidential sources or legitimate law-enforcement operations, release it,” Atiku said.
He concluded with a direct appeal to the agency: “Protect your investigators. Protect your sources. Protect your methods. But do not protect the truth from Nigerians.”
Atiku, who served as vice president between 1999 and 2007, is the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) for the 2027 election.
The statement was signed by Shaibu on August 22, 2026.
