US Judge Rejects Tinubu’s Bid to Delay Release of DOJ Drug Files, Sets August 21 Deadline

A United States federal judge has rejected President Bola Tinubu’s request for a 10-day extension in the legal battle over the release of decades-old Department of Justice records relating to a heroin trafficking investigation, setting a firm deadline of August 21, 2026, for the documents to be produced.

The case stems from a civil forfeiture action filed by the DOJ in 1993 in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, in which the government alleged that funds deposited in US bank accounts linked to Tinubu were proceeds of a Nigeria-based heroin trafficking network. Tinubu surrendered $460,000 as part of a settlement, though he was never charged with any crime. He has consistently denied any involvement in drug trafficking.

According to a post by the Washington-based lobbying firm Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C., Tinubu formally joined the DOJ’s request for a 10-day extension, which the judge swiftly denied. The firm speculated that the President wanted to use any delay to call upon his friends in Washington to argue that the release of the files would harm US-Nigeria relations and undermine his ability to work with the United States to combat terrorism. The firm also warned that any US government personnel who improperly attempted to interfere with the judicial or FOIA process on Tinubu’s behalf should be exposed and fired.

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Trump-appointed US Attorney Jeanine Pirro had requested the 10-day extension to comply with the court’s order regarding records held by the DOJ, FBI and DEA. However, US District Judge Beryl Howell, who has been presiding over the case, granted only a four-day extension, setting the August 21 deadline. Howell noted that the case had already been pending for more than three years, signalling the court’s unwillingness to allow further delays. With the extension only partially granted, August 21 remains the date by which the US government and Tinubu’s legal team must respond.

The legal saga has been closely watched in Nigeria, where the records are seen as a potential threat to Tinubu’s political standing ahead of the 2027 elections. The FOIA litigation was initiated in 2023 by journalist Aaron Greenspan, who accused the agencies of violating FOIA by refusing to release records relating to investigations involving Tinubu. The case has been further complicated by the involvement of a US lobbying firm retained by former Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar, which has been actively pushing for the release of the documents. The lobbying firm has also submitted more than 60 pages of DOJ records to the Trump administration and Congress, reviving the decades-old allegations.

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