AT LAST! FBI Submits Tinubu’s Records to US Court for Judge’s Eyes Only

*US, Nigerian sources confirm development shows existence of Tinubu’s connection with drug-trafficking investigation no longer rumour

By KEMI KASUMU and OUR REPORTER

“President Bola #Tinubu’s lies are falling apart; this case was never about a civil forfeiture case. The long speculation about whether serious law-enforcement records concerning President Tinubu exist is over. They do exist. The question now is simple: What is contained in those 399 pages that President Tinubu does not want the American and Nigerian people to see?”, said Von Batten.

After three years of foot-dragging, United States of America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) finally complied with court order for the release of drug related criminal records linked to President of Nigeria Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Thursday August 28, 2026.

This was disclosed via X by Dr. Von Batten of Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C., a US lobbying firm in the early hours of Sunday August 30, 2026 with a post of “Defendant’s Notice of Compliance” dated August 28, 2026 and submitted by US Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.

The development followed a reported attempt by which Tinubu asked the court to block release of his criminal investigation records by the FBI, which many said was for the court to decide but was certain that Nigerians deserve to know the background and character of the man who has been their president and is again seeking for them to re-elect him come 2027.

Nigeria’s former Senator Dino Melaye, who had earlier posted before Batten, also confirmed the compliance by simply typing on his X handle, “Following years of foot-dragging on a FOI petition filed by Mr Greenspan in 2023, the FBI on Friday complied with a court order directing it to release Mr Tinubu’s records.”

In his notes to the disclosure, the US lobbyist acknowledged with profound appreciation what he called transparency of the Donald Trump administration in the matter unlike Joe Biden administration that he said refused to even admit having such files on Tinubu.

Von Batten said, “This is Dr. Von Batten. When my amazing team told me that there were 399 pages of @FBI and @DEAHQ documents linked to Nigeria’s President Tinubu (@OfficialABAT), I thought I had heard wrong. 399 pages is a book. What was President Bola #Tinubu’s connection to the reported heroin-trafficking organization to warrant 399 pages of responsive FBI records?

“I want to thank President @realDonaldTrump and the entire administration for being this transparent, unlike the @JoeBiden administration, which refused to even admit that it had files on Tinubu. The #Trump #DOJ has shown that it takes Tinubu’s claims that his life will be in danger seriously and is following the law, while at the same time making it known that the records concerning #Tinubu are tied to a serious drug-trafficking investigation.”

Continuing Von Batten typed, “Update: Last night, the @FBI and @DEAHQ presented the court with new filings concerning the alleged heroin-trafficking records involving President Bola Tinubu (@officialABAT). What is shocking is that we learned the FBI’s Tinubu-responsive search produced 399 pages of documents related to #Nigerian President Bola #Tinubu.

“Within those records are materials tied to a drug-trafficking investigation involving #heroin-residue laboratory testing, controlled drug purchases by a cooperating witness, confidential informants, federal grand-jury activity, prosecutorial reports and meetings, surveillance, undercover operations, financial seizures, bank-account seizure warrants, IRS criminal-investigation material, and international investigative coordination.

“President Bola #Tinubu’s lies are falling apart; this case was never about a civil forfeiture case. The long speculation about whether serious law-enforcement records concerning President Tinubu exist is over. They do exist. The question now is simple: What is contained in those 399 pages that President Tinubu does not want the American and Nigerian people to see?”

Although more Nigerians and even the United States lobbyist, Von Batten, are not comfortable with secrecy of the submission, what Nigerians need to decide whether or not they want to continue to have Tinubu as their president from the 2027 elections are said to have been perfectly made clear by what the US agencies made public already: confirmation that Tinubu actually has a case regarding drug-trafficking in America.

According to a media report titled, “FBI submits Bola Tinubu’s criminal records to Judge Beryl Howell for her eyes only”, and dated Saturday August 29, 2026, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) hand-delivered records of President Bola Tinubu’s 1993 drug-trafficking and money-laundering case to Judge Howell Beryl of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, saying they are for her eyes only, court filings sighted by the media outfit reportedly indicated.

It is important to note that this case at hand was after Tinubu had served as Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria during which he was reported in a print newspaper that he did not believe in one Nigeria. It will be recalled that Tinubu had gone into exile following takeover of government by General Sani Abacha whose regime was cracking down on some anti-government agents of which Tinubu was one under the argies of National Democratic Coalition (NADECO).

According to the report, the FBI secretly submitted the records on Friday August 28, 2026 to avoid disobeying a court order while sidelining transparency campaigner, Aaron Greenspan, who petitioned the Bureau for the Nigerian leader’s records in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

Following years of foot-dragging on a FOI petition filed by Mr Greenspan in 2023, the FBI on Friday complied with a court order directing it to release Mr Tinubu’s records. Mr Greenspan worked with Nigerian journalist, David Hundeyin, to file the petition in 2023.

The records submitted as “under seal, ex parte, in camera declarations were hand delivered to the Court on August 28, 2026 in compliance with this Court’s Minute Order dated August 20, 2026,” filings showed.

Ms Beryl lost her patience with the FBI after the bureau missed several deadlines , giving  excuses on why it could not immediately provide the records.

She issued August 28 as the final ultimatum to the FBI, which prompted the FBI’s decision to comply, showing it “in camera” to the judge alone, without carrying along the petitioner.

Earlier this week, FBI claimed that submitting the records would violate Mr Tinubu’s privacy and argued that FOI was established to screen the operations and records of government institutions, not necessarily private individuals.

For decades, Mr Tinubu has avoided speaking on the drug affair, refusing to clarify controversies surrounding his involvement in a case that saw him forfeit hundreds of thousands of dollars to the U.S. government.

Mr Tinubu also sought to block the release of his records, asserting his rivals only sought to use them to discredit him in a Nigerian presidential election. He begged the court to protect his privacy rights.

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in 2023 released documents holding Mr Tinubu’s encounter with American authorities over allegations of narcotics trafficking and money laundering.