Lawyers for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu have filed a motion in a federal court in Washington, D.C., seeking to block the release of additional U.S. government records regarding his life prior to his entry into politics.
The filing, submitted in the ongoing case *Greenspan v. Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys*, urges the court to deny a summary judgment motion by Aaron Greenspan, who is seeking FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) records related to the Nigerian President.
President Tinubu intervened in the lawsuit to protect his privacy, arguing that the requested materials pertain to his life as a private citizen and student in the early 1990s. His legal team contends that the information is protected under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the Privacy Act, asserting that the records reflect personal history rather than the performance of official government duties.
“Regardless, the Intervenor should retain his full privacy interests because he was not a public official in 1993,” the court brief states. The lawyers further argue that an individual’s subsequent election to public office does not negate the personal privacy protections afforded to their private records.
The dispute centers on FOIA Exemption 7(C), which allows federal agencies to withhold law-enforcement information if disclosure would constitute an “unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.” The President’s legal team disputes the plaintiff’s reliance on the “public-domain doctrine,” arguing that while the existence of a 1993 civil forfeiture proceeding involving accounts in Tinubu’s name is a matter of public record, the specific details of any underlying criminal investigation remain protected.
Furthermore, the filing challenges the argument that there is a significant public interest in the disclosure. Tinubu’s counsel asserted that FOIA is intended to shed light on the actions of the U.S. government, not to satisfy “general public curiosity” about the background of a foreign political figure.
The litigation follows a 2025 ruling in which the court directed the FBI and DEA to search for and process non-exempt materials. The current phase of the case focuses on determining which specific records may be withheld to protect privacy and law-enforcement integrity.
The filing is a procedural argument from the President’s legal representatives and does not represent a final ruling by the court.
