Atiku Challenges FBI: "Release Tinubu's Records — Don't Hide Truth From Nigerians"

Atiku Challenges the FBI: "Release Tinubu's Records — Don't Hide the Truth From Nigerians"   If you thought Atiku Abubakar was done making bold moves after filing his certificate forgery suit against President Tinubu in a Nigerian federal court earlier this week, think again. The African Democratic Congress presidential candidate has now taken his fight to an entirely different jurisdiction — one that operates far beyond the reach of Nigerian courts, Nigerian political pressure, and Nigerian party machinery. He has challenged the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation directly. His message to the FBI was blunt, public, and unambiguous: "Release Tinubu's Records! Don't hide the truth from Nigerians!" In the space of one week, Atiku has filed a lawsuit in a Nigerian federal court, demanded INEC produce Tinubu's certificate documents, and now called on the most powerful domestic law enforcement agency in the world to release records relating to the Nigerian president. The 2027 campaign has barely begun. And it is already unlike anything Nigeria has seen before.   What Is Atiku Demanding From the FBI — and Why? To understand Atiku's FBI challenge, you need to understand the history. In 1993, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration filed a civil forfeiture case in the Northern District of Illinois involving accounts linked to Bola Tinubu. That case — which never resulted in criminal charges against Tinubu — ended with a settlement in which Tinubu agreed to forfeit $460,000 to the US government. Tinubu has always maintained that this was a civil matter, not a criminal conviction, and that it does not constitute a drug trafficking conviction under Nigerian law. His critics — and Atiku is now the most prominent among them — have long argued that the full records of that US case contain information that Nigerians deserve to see before deciding whether to re-elect Tinubu as their president. What Atiku is specifically demanding is that the FBI — which would have been involved in the investigation that preceded the civil forfeiture — release all records related to Tinubu that it holds under the Freedom of Information Act, and make those records publicly available. He frames this not as a legal strategy but as a democratic imperative. "The Nigerian people have a right to know the full truth about the person asking for their votes for a second term," Atiku's camp said in a statement. "If there is nothing to hide, the records should speak for themselves."   Has This Been Tried Before? This is not the first time Nigerians have sought access to US records related to Tinubu. The 1993 forfeiture case has been public knowledge in some form since at least 2003, when Tinubu first ran for governor of Lagos State. What's different now is the political context and the person making the demand. In 2023, during the presidential election, various opposition figures and media organizations attempted to amplify the US case records. The document