The Allied Peoples Movement has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to withdraw from the 2027 presidential race as a legal battle continues in the United States over the release of FBI and DEA drug records concerning a past investigation.
APM made the call on September 1, 2026, after Tinubu’s lawyers challenged the release of additional records being sought through a Freedom of Information Act case in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.
The party said the continued court fight had increased public interest in records connected with allegations dating back to the early 1990s.
The records were requested by American transparency activist Aaron Greenspan. His case seeks documents from US agencies concerning investigations involving Tinubu, including FBI interview records from 1992 and 1993.
Tinubu’s lawyers have opposed further disclosure. They argue that the President has privacy interests in investigative files and that the release of documents should remain subject to applicable Freedom of Information Act exemptions.
According to court reporting, the legal team asked the court to reject Greenspan’s request for broader disclosure and to allow the FBI and DEA to maintain redactions and withholdings.
The case has its roots in a wider US investigation into drug trafficking and money laundering in the Chicago area during the early 1990s.
In April 2025, Judge Beryl Howell ruled that the FBI and DEA could no longer use a Glomar response to refuse to acknowledge certain records concerning individuals whose involvement in the investigation had already been officially disclosed.
The US Department of Justice’s own summary of the ruling states that official government court filings had acknowledged the involvement of the FBI and DEA in relevant investigations. The court also said that previously disclosed information could reduce the basis for withholding the fact that a person had been the subject of an investigation.
The ruling did not determine that Tinubu was guilty of drug trafficking. It dealt with access to government records and the legal grounds for withholding information under US freedom of information law.
The latest court dispute therefore centres on whether additional material should be released, redacted or withheld.
APM has argued that Nigerians should be able to examine any lawfully releasable information before the 2027 presidential election. The party has also raised the issue of a 1993 civil forfeiture involving about 460,000 dollars and accounts linked to Tinubu.
The party has used the continuing controversy to call for Tinubu’s withdrawal from the 2027 race.
Tinubu has denied wrongdoing, while his lawyers maintain that the requested investigative material is protected by privacy and other legal exemptions.
The dispute is now being played out in a US federal court, with the outcome expected to determine what additional records, if any, can become public.
The case has attracted renewed political attention in Nigeria because it comes less than a year before the 2027 election and involves records concerning events from Tinubu’s period in the United States more than three decades ago.
