Lawyers representing President Bola Tinubu have approached a United States federal court in Washington, D.C., urging it to block transparency activist Aaron Greenspan from obtaining additional historical records from the FBI and DEA.

In a legal filing dated August 28, 2026, in the case Greenspan v. Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, Tinubu’s legal team asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to uphold existing redactions and withholdings under Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) protections and the Privacy Act.

Key Highlights of the Filing

  • The Core Dispute: Activist Aaron Greenspan filed FOIA requests seeking records and interview notes from the FBI and DEA relating to historical investigations from 1992 and 1993, which involve a 1990s civil forfeiture proceeding concerning funds in accounts bearing Tinubu's name.

  • The Privacy Defense: Tinubu’s lawyers argued that the records pertain to his private life long before he ever held public office, emphasizing that he was a private citizen and student in 1993.

  • Protection Under FOIA Exemption 7(C): The legal team maintained that releasing the documents would cause an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy without shedding meaningful light on how U.S. government agencies performed their official duties.

  • Rejecting "Public Interest" Arguments: Tinubu's counsel argued that satisfying general public curiosity or political interest in another country's leader does not align with the core transparency purpose of FOIA. They also noted that past civil forfeiture documents do not constitute an official disclosure of underlying criminal investigative files.

The case continues to test the boundaries of privacy laws and transparency requests regarding public figures and historical government files in the United States.