A United States District Court judge has granted Trump-appointed US Attorney Jeanine Pirro only four additional days to comply with orders concerning the release of Department of Justice, FBI and DEA records linked to longstanding drug-trafficking allegations involving Nigerian President Bola Tinubu.
According to a statement issued by the US-based firm Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C., Pirro had requested a further ten days to act on court orders relating to the records. Judge Beryl Howell of the US District Court for the District of Columbia instead allowed only four days, setting a deadline of 21 August 2026. The judge noted that the matter had already been pending for more than three years.
The firm, which has previously pressed for disclosure of the files, welcomed the decision. It stated: “We deeply appreciate U.S. Attorney Pirro and the DOJ’s renewed motivation to release these documents, and we agree with Judge Howell. This case has been pending for three years. The time to release the Tinubu drug-trafficking files is now.” It added that shared strategic interests between the United States and Nigeria “do not mean supporting an alleged drug trafficker,” referencing comments attributed to President Trump.
The records form part of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case brought by American transparency campaigner Aaron Greenspan. The litigation concerns investigative materials from the early 1990s relating to a Chicago heroin trafficking network and associated money-laundering inquiries. Agencies including the FBI and DEA had previously issued “Glomar” responses, declining to confirm or deny the existence of certain records. In April 2025, Judge Howell ruled that those responses were improper in respect of the FBI and DEA, directing them to search for and process non-exempt records. Production has since faced repeated delays and extensions.
Tinubu has not been charged in connection with the historic allegations. Nigerian authorities and his supporters have previously dismissed related claims as politically motivated and long settled. The presidency has in the past described court developments on the FOIA matter as containing “nothing new.”
The latest development has been widely reported in Nigerian media, drawing on the statement from Von Batten-Montague-York. Further production of documents, or any application for additional time, is expected to be clarified by the 21 August deadline.
By Demon Davies
