FOIA: CIA Confirms Nigeria’s Sitting President Tinubu as Its Active Asset.
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has confirmed that Nigeria’s sitting President, Bola Tinubu, is an active asset of the agency.
This revelation came Monday during a legal filing at the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The CIA, alongside the FBI and the DEA, filed a memorandum opposing a civil lawsuit seeking the unredacted release of President Tinubu’s drug trafficking investigation records.
The filing from the CIA effectively acknowledged President Tinubu as a current source of intelligence for the agency. The statement stressed the critical importance of maintaining the secrecy of such relationships, noting that confirming or denying the cooperation of individuals like Tinubu could potentially jeopardize U.S. national security.
“HUMAN SOURCES CAN BE EXPECTED TO FURNISH INFORMATION TO THE CIA ONLY WHEN THEY ARE CONFIDENT THE CIA CAN AND WILL DO EVERYTHING IN ITS POWER TO PREVENT THE PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF THEIR COOPERATION,” the agency stated.
It further added that revealing such cooperation could invite retaliatory action against individuals and their families who have assisted the CIA.
The memorandum further elaborated that the disclosure of any records concerning a foreign national, like Tinubu, could compromise U.S. intelligence operations and the safety of informants. The CIA warned that indiscretions could damage a wide network of intelligence sources connected to Tinubu.
In the ongoing Freedom of Information (FOIA) case, initiated in 2022 by David Hundeyin, Editor-in-Chief of West Africa Weekly, and Aaron Greenspan, founder of PlainSite, the plaintiffs are seeking to force the release of previously redacted files. However, the CIA is invoking its standard “We can neither confirm nor deny” approach to protect its intelligence sources and methods, asserting that full disclosure could endanger U.S. national security.
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The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), also a party to the case, supported the CIA’s position. In its own statement, the DEA opposed the unredacted release of records, stating that while Nigerians have a right to know what their government is doing, they do not have a right to know the specifics of the president’s involvement in drug trafficking investigations.
As the case continues, the CIA’s confirmation of Tinubu as an active asset intensifies the debate over the balance between transparency and national security, with significant implications for the ongoing FOIA battle.
As a now-confirmed CIA asset, President Tinubu poses as an asset that can be used to influence the political, social, or economic outcomes of Nigeria, a country once ranked West Africa’s biggest economy until recently ranked fourth in April 2024.
