In a surprising development, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have requested a 90-day extension to release documents related to a decades-old drug investigation allegedly linked to Nigerian President Bola Tinubu.

The records were expected to be released by May 2, 2025, following an order issued in April by Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The order came as part of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed in June 2023 by U.S. transparency activist Aaron Greenspan.

In a joint status report filed on Thursday, May 1, the FBI and DEA informed the court that additional time was needed to complete searches for the requested documents. The report marks a delay in the highly anticipated release of information concerning a 1990s drug trafficking and money laundering case in Chicago, which allegedly involved Tinubu and several others.

Greenspan’s lawsuit seeks records from multiple U.S. agencies, including the FBI, DEA, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), State Department, CIA, and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices in Illinois and Indiana. The FOIA requests—filed between 2022 and 2023—focus on four individuals: Bola Tinubu, Mueez Akande, Lee Andrew Edwards, and Abiodun Agbele.

In their latest filing, the FBI and DEA stated:

“The FBI and DEA have initiated their searches for responsive, non-exempt, reasonably segregable portions of records requested by the plaintiff and anticipate completing their searches in ninety days.”

However, Greenspan objected to the extension, citing long-standing delays and the availability of some documents. He urged the court to require the agencies to produce the already-identified records within a week and to complete the remainder within 14 days.

“Given the years-long delay already caused by the defendants and the fact that many responsive documents have already been identified, the plaintiff proposes…production by next week,” Greenspan argued. “The defendants provide no rationale for why their search should take 90 days.”

The court has not yet ruled on the extension request.