The Presidency has chided the opposition and critics of President Bola Tinubu for ‘feasting’ on the recent United States order for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration to release records relating to his criminal investigation for alleged drug trafficking.
Speaking on Sunday’s edition of Channels Television’s Politics Today, the Special Adviser to the President on Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala, stated that those who genuinely read the judgment will know there is nothing new beyond what is already in the public domain.
Judge Beryl Howell, in a ruling dated April 8, which can be found on the court’s website, directed both agencies to search for and process non-exempt records tied to Freedom of Information Act requests filed by American researcher Aaron Greenspan.
Greenspan, founder of legal transparency platform PlainSite, had submitted 12 FOIA requests between 2022 and 2023, seeking information on a Chicago drug ring that operated in the early 1990s.
His request included records on Tinubu and three others: Lee Andrew Edwards, Mueez Abegboyega Akande, and Abiodun Agbele.
But Bwala predicted that the information being sought wouldn’t be different from what is already in the public domain.
According to him, the buzz around the news was mainly because of the way the media and opposition interpreted it.
He said, “With respect to the FBI and DEA, the court said that in case because already documents have been released for long, that you think from the exempt there are documents that are yet to be released, come on the 2nd of May and talk to us so we can determine whether or not they are valid application before the court.
“So there is nothing actually in what was published in the ruling of the court that is new. Everything has been in the public domain for ages. But you know, the opposition will want to feast on it because in the absence of a better idea, that is the only thing they can cling to, in the hope that they will probably misinterpret the public.
“Nothing new at all. So let’s wait for the 2nd of May because there is actually nothing that they are seeking which has not been released. I mean it is intended to create unnecessary conversation as if there is an issue on the table.”