Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has urged the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) not to use the protection of lives as a blanket justification for withholding potentially disclosable records relating to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Atiku, through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, argued that Nigerians have a legitimate democratic interest in information concerning the history and character of the person occupying the country’s highest political office.
Reacting to the FBI’s position that releasing some records could endanger lives, Atiku questioned whose lives were being protected, arguing that Nigerians were already confronting insecurity, economic hardship and worsening living conditions.
“The FBI says disclosure could endanger lives. Which lives? Nigerians are already dying,” Shaibu quoted Atiku as saying in a statement issued on Friday.
According to him, Nigerians have suffered the consequences of terrorism, banditry, hunger, rising healthcare costs and economic pressures since Tinubu assumed office.
He particularly criticised the removal of fuel subsidy, linking it to higher transportation and food costs and increased pressure on households and businesses.
“Danger to life is therefore not a legal abstraction to Nigerians. It is a daily reality in our homes, hospitals, farms, highways and communities,” Atiku said.
The former vice president also renewed his pledge to restore fuel subsidy if elected president, insisting that his proposed intervention would be targeted, transparently financed, capped and independently audited.
He argued that the cost of fuel has far-reaching consequences because transportation affects food prices, while energy costs influence production, employment and household incomes.
“Atiku’s Nigeria will not measure economic success by how much suffering citizens can endure,” he said.
‘Protect your agents, but don’t protect truth from Nigerians’
Turning directly to the FBI, Atiku said his appeal was not for the agency to compromise undercover operations, confidential sources or sensitive investigative methods.
“Protect your agents. Protect your sources. Protect legitimate investigative methods. Redact whatever American law genuinely requires you to redact,” he said.
However, he warned against extending legitimate secrecy protections to information that could lawfully be released and is relevant to Nigerians’ right to democratic accountability.
Atiku said Nigerians were not asking the United States to interfere in the country’s political affairs, but were seeking access to information that may legitimately be available concerning a president who exercises enormous power over their lives.
“Our demand of American law enforcement is not a call to interfere in Nigeria’s politics. It is a humanitarian and democratic appeal rooted in the principle that people have a right to information legitimately available about those who exercise enormous power over their lives,” he said.
He urged the FBI to release any records that could legally be disclosed without compromising investigators, confidential sources or legitimate law-enforcement operations.
“If information can lawfully be released without endangering investigators, confidential sources or legitimate law-enforcement operations, release it,” Atiku said.
He concluded with a direct appeal to the US agency: “Protect your investigators. Protect your sources. Protect your methods. But do not protect the truth from Nigerians.”
Atiku, who was vice president from 1999 to 2007, is the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) for the 2027 election.
The statement was signed by Shaibu on August 22, 2026.Sharp headline/caption options.
