…says Nigerians have no right to his past records
Efforts by some Nigerian activist groups to access huge piles of past records of Nigerian president, Bola Tinubu, which said to be in the archives and depositories of the United state intelligent agencies, the DEA, FBI and CIA, have seemingly hit brick walls.
Recall that incontrovertible records, confirming presidents Tinubu’s past indictment and conviction in a Chicago(USA) heroin trafficking incident have been widely circulated. Also, last year, the court where the activist file a Freedom of Information suit rejected an urgent request aimed at compelling these leading US law enforcement agencies to expedite the release of sensitive information regarding President Bola Tinubu.
However, US law enforcement agencies have asserted that Nigerians “do not possess the right” to unrestricted access to President Bola Tinubu’s historical records.
This stance was articulated in a memorandum submitted by the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Drug Enforcement Administration to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, which prominent journalist David Hundeyin shared on Twitter on Tuesday evening.
In an update on the matter, Hundeyin noted that the three US agencies had presented their defense against the summary judgment related to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s drug trafficking investigation records.
The journalist stated: “On Monday, in federal court, the CIA, FBI, and DEA submitted a memorandum opposing our motion for summary judgment in the FOIA disclosure case concerning President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s drug trafficking investigation records, where we are seeking to eliminate the redactions from the partially released documents.
“In their submission, the CIA effectively acknowledged that Nigeria’s current president is an active asset of the CIA. A passage from the CIA’s filing indicates:
‘Human sources are likely to provide information to the CIA only when they are assured that the CIA will take all necessary measures to prevent the public revelation of their collaboration. In cases involving individuals who have been cooperating with the CIA, official acknowledgment of that cooperation could provoke retaliatory actions against them or their family and friends.'”
The situation also endangers every individual who has interacted with the cooperating person. Consequently, the indiscretion of a single source within a network of intelligence sources can adversely affect the entire range of those sources.
Therefore, the act of confirming or denying the existence of records pertaining to a specific foreign national, such as Tinubu, could reasonably be anticipated to harm U.S. national security. This is due to the potential revelation of whether the CIA has maintained any human intelligence sources related to Tinubu, as well as the identification of any access or lack thereof that these sources may have had to intelligence regarding him.
Moreover, the DEA’s submission included a statement that explicitly stated: “We oppose full, unredacted disclosure of the DEA’s Bola Tinubu heroin trafficking investigation records because we believe that while Nigerians have a right to be informed about what their government is up to, they do not have a right to know what their president is up to.”
At this juncture, it seems there is little more to discuss regarding the direct involvement of the U.S. government in perpetuating instability in Africa and allowing the rise of ineffective leaders who contribute to widespread poverty and destruction.
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