A US Court has taken a new step in the long-running Freedom of Information Act, FOIA, case seeking the release of alleged drug-trafficking records linked to President Bola Tinubu.
In an update posted on X, a Washington-based lobbying firm, Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C. said it had been informed that Judge Beryl Howell of the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Friday, August 21 granted the FBI permission to submit the documents to the court privately, for in-camera review.
The firm said the judge has given the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, DEA, the Department of Justice, DOJ, and President Tinubu until August 28, 2026, and no later, to file their opposition to the release of the records.
The firm described the ‘and no later’ language as a sign that the court has reached its limit.
The firm added that the FBI would now have to convince the court why the documents should not be released, including through its private submission of the sensitive material for judicial review.
According to the firm, the FBI had acknowledged possessing highly sensitive information related to allegations of drug trafficking involving Tinubu.
It argued that the FBI’s request for the court to review the documents privately indicated that the material contained information the agency considered particularly sensitive.
The firm also alleged that the records could involve information concerning criminal informants and claimed that the development contradicted previous characterizations of the matter as being solely related to civil forfeiture.
“We have now been informed that US Court’s Judge Howell this morning granted the FBI permission to provide the court with the documents in private.
“This has not yet been published on the court docket as of this evening, and the claim is based solely on the law firm’s X post,” the post read.