Nigerian Cleric, Primate Elijah Ayodele, founder of the INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to take steps to prevent the release of documents relating to past U.S. investigations involving him.
Ayodele made the call in a video shared on social media, warning that the release of the documents could affect Tinubu’s leadership and Nigeria’s progress.
The cleric described his appeal as a patriotic intervention, urging the President to take steps to stop the disclosure of the records.
The documents form part of an ongoing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit in the United States involving American transparency activist Aaron Greenspan, who is seeking records relating to investigations involving Tinubu.
Greenspan filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking records from U.S. agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), relating to investigations involving Tinubu in the 1990s. The requests include Tinubu’s FBI file and interview records from 1992 and 1993. The case also concerns records linked to a 1993 civil forfeiture proceeding involving about $460,000.
The records are in connection to a U.S. investigation into alleged drug trafficking activities involving multiple individuals. Recent court filings have generated renewed controversy over what information the FBI holds and whether some of the records should be released publicly.
However, Tinubu has intervened in the case and asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to reject Greenspan’s request for the release of the records. His lawyers argued that disclosure would violate his privacy rights and urged the court to maintain existing redactions and withholdings
Ayodele, therefore warned Tinubu about what he described as the potential consequences of the release of the documents, urging the President to do everything possible to prevent what he called an impending embarrassment.
Notably, the cleric remarks has added a fresh dimension to the controversy, coming as the legal battle over access to the records continues. The development comes as Tinubu’s legal team continues to challenge the release of the records in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
On August 28, 2026, Tinubu’s lawyers asked the court to deny Greenspan’s motion for summary judgment and allow redactions and withholdings by the FBI and DEA to remain in place.
However, The FBI has also asked the court to allow it to provide some explanations and disputed materials privately to the judge, citing concerns surrounding sensitive information in the records.
