Stockholm — A Nigerian-born Swedish citizen and founder of Worldview International, Kio Amachree, has challenged FBI Director Kash Patel over the continued withholding of United States government records relating to a historical investigation involving President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
In an open letter addressed to Patel, Amachree questioned why the Federal Bureau of Investigation is seeking to explain privately to a U.S. federal judge why records connected to the investigation should remain undisclosed.
The letter follows a motion reportedly filed by the FBI on August 20, 2026, in the long-running Freedom of Information Act case brought by American transparency activist Aaron Greenspan. The FBI asked to submit additional explanations to U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell ex parte and in camera — meaning privately, without the information being made part of the public record. Reports say the Bureau cited concerns involving law-enforcement techniques and the potential physical safety of individuals.
Amachree described the FBI’s position as raising questions about why records dating back more than three decades still require such extraordinary secrecy.
“Why is Bola Tinubu’s file more sacred to your Bureau than the Epstein files?” he asked, drawing a comparison with the continuing controversy in the United States over the disclosure of records connected to Jeffrey Epstein.
Questions over 1990s investigation
The FOIA litigation concerns requests for records associated with Tinubu and a Chicago investigation dating to the early 1990s. Published reports on the case say one request sought Tinubu’s FBI file, while another sought FBI interview records from 1992 and 1993 connected to a specific FBI case number.
The controversy also relates to a 1993 U.S. civil forfeiture proceeding in which Tinubu forfeited approximately $460,000 to the U.S. government. Historical accounts describe the case as involving allegations that funds in accounts linked to Tinubu were proceeds of heroin trafficking. Tinubu has not been convicted of heroin trafficking in connection with the matter, and the forfeiture itself was a civil proceeding.
Amachree, however, argues that the continuing secrecy surrounding the records has intensified public suspicion.
He questioned whether Tinubu had ever served as a source, asset or cooperator for U.S. authorities and called on the FBI to disclose the records so that Nigerians could assess the evidence for themselves.
FBI invokes FOIA exemptions
According to reports on the FBI’s August 20 filing, the Bureau invoked several Freedom of Information Act exemptions, including provisions relating to personal privacy, confidential sources, investigative techniques and information that could potentially endanger an individual’s life or physical safety.
The FBI’s argument is not that the entire historical investigation is necessarily classified because of Tinubu’s identity. Rather, the Bureau maintains that certain withheld information cannot be fully justified publicly without potentially revealing the very law-enforcement interests it says the exemptions are designed to protect.
The agency therefore sought permission to provide the court with a more detailed explanation privately.
Court sets August 28 deadline
The latest development came as Judge Howell reportedly authorised the FBI to submit the disputed material privately for judicial review and set August 28, 2026, as the deadline for the FBI, the Department of Justice, the Drug Enforcement Administration and Tinubu to file their opposition to disclosure.
The development was first highlighted publicly by Washington-based lobbying firm Von Batten-Montague-York, which has been closely following the litigation. Some reports have cautioned that the specific order had not immediately appeared publicly on the court docket, meaning aspects of the development were initially based on the firm’s account.
“Nigerians are not fools”
In his letter, Amachree said Nigerians in the diaspora are following the litigation closely and understand the legal terminology surrounding the dispute.
He argued that continued secrecy risks undermining confidence in U.S.-Nigeria relations and suggested that Nigerians would remember the role played by American institutions in determining whether the records become public.
“Release the Tinubu files. All of them. Let Nigerians judge for themselves,” he wrote.
He also linked the controversy to Nigeria’s 2027 presidential election, arguing that voters deserve access to relevant information concerning the president’s historical record before casting their ballots.
A political and legal test for Washington
The letter ultimately framed the controversy as a test of the transparency principles the United States routinely promotes internationally.
Amachree urged Patel to release the records and allow the public to determine what they contain rather than allowing years of litigation, sealed filings and private submissions to fuel speculation.
“History is watching you, and so are we,” he concluded.
The latest court proceedings do not, by themselves, establish that Tinubu committed drug trafficking or any other criminal offence. They concern whether records held by U.S. law-enforcement agencies should be disclosed under FOIA and whether specific portions qualify for statutory exemptions.
The dispute is therefore set to remain under judicial scrutiny as the August 28 deadline approaches.
