The United States Drug Enforcement Administration, DEA, has defended its decision to withhold specific investigative records related to an ongoing probe involving Nigerian President Bola Tinubu.
In a court filing on September 23, 2026, the US government said it hid parts of the files to protect its sources and investigative methods.
The case, filed under the Freedom of Information Act before a Washington DC court, involves sensitive details linked to law enforcement.
The case was filed by American activist Aaron Greenspan. He requested old records from US agencies on investigations linked to Tinubu and others.
The latest filing was the US government’s defence for why the DEA refused to release some of those files.
The government said the DEA used sworn statements and a detailed index to explain why some parts of the files cannot be released under US freedom of information laws.
It said the DEA files contain different investigation reports written during its operations, including reports labelled DEA-6, DEA-292 and DEA-210.
The agency said information about its confidential sources is highly protected under US freedom of information law.
“Due to the significant protections afforded to prevent the disclosure of this type of information, DEA determined that the significance of exempting this type of information outweighed the relatively insignificant public interest in the disclosure of the information,” the agency said.
Alleged drug trafficking: Why Tinubu’s files have not been released – US agency