Nigeria: Tinubu Was Under Investigation for Drugs - FBI
The FBI has confirmed in a court filing that Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was the subject of a drug-trafficking investigation in the early 1990s. The disclosure follows a long-running Freedom of Information Act case, though no criminal conviction was established.
Why it matters
The confirmation of past investigations into a sitting head of state carries significant political implications for transparency and governance.
The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has confirmed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was the subject of a criminal investigation into drug-trafficking crimes in the early 1990s.
This is according to a sworn declaration filed in a US federal court.
The declaration was submitted on August 28, 2026, before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia as part of an ongoing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case seeking access to FBI records relating to Tinubu.
In the filing, the FBI stated that "the responsive records herein were compiled in furtherance of the FBI's investigation of multiple individuals for drug trafficking crimes."
The agency also stated that "the court has already determined that an official acknowledgement had been made of an investigation of Bola Tinubu."
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