US Court rejects discovery bid against Tinubu in FOIA case
President Bola Tinubu
Abdullateef Fowewe
A United States federal court has denied a request by American transparency activist Aaron Greenspan to obtain discovery from Nigerian President Bola Tinubu and the lobbying firm DCI Group in an ongoing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit.
The development was announced in a press statement shared on Saturday by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to President Tinubu on Information and Strategy.
In a ruling issued on October 30, 2026, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia found that the proposed limited discovery—focused on alleged cyberattacks on Greenspan’s website—was not sufficiently relevant to the core FOIA dispute involving the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
The court also rejected a motion by non-party Karl Von Batten seeking to file an amicus curiae brief, denied Greenspan’s related request for judicial notice, and refused his motion for summary judgment.
“The Court’s decision makes clear that this Freedom of Information Act proceeding cannot be used to pursue discovery unrelated to the legal questions before it,” said attorney Christopher W. Carmichael.
“By denying the request for discovery against President Tinubu and DCI Group, the Court reinforced the importance of keeping this litigation focused on the issues properly before it.”
Attorney Oluwole Afolabi added, “The Court also denied the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment and rejected a separate request to introduce an amicus brief. While the underlying FOIA issues remain before the Court, these rulings establish important procedural boundaries and clarify which matters are appropriate for consideration in this litigation.”
Greenspan filed the FOIA suit seeking historical records from US agencies related to investigations involving Tinubu from the early 1990s, including matters connected to a Chicago narcotics case.
Tinubu intervened in the case as a party.
The litigation has centred on whether the FBI and DEA properly withheld or redacted documents. Greenspan later sought to expand the proceedings by requesting discovery from Tinubu and DCI Group over alleged cyberattacks, a move the court has now blocked as outside the scope of the FOIA claims.
