A member of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s legal team in the United States, Wole Afolabi (SAN), has dismissed allegations that the lawyers are attempting to shield the President from potentially damaging information contained in FBI and DEA records.

Afolabi said the legal team’s position was based strictly on United States law, particularly provisions of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which permit certain information to be withheld from public disclosure. He spoke during an appearance on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics amid an ongoing legal battle over the release of records relating to past allegations involving Tinubu.

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‘We’ll Be Guilty of Professional Malpractice’

According to the senior lawyer, the US government has already released some documents connected to the matter but is seeking to keep portions of the records confidential because they fall under FOIA exemptions.

Afolabi said the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had argued that releasing some of the withheld information could expose confidential sources, investigative techniques and law enforcement personnel.

“It will amount to professional malpractice on our part if we don’t take advantage of what the law offers,” Afolabi said.

He rejected claims that the legal strategy was designed specifically to prevent information about Tinubu from becoming public.

According to him, the US government’s arguments for withholding certain records are focused on protecting law enforcement operations rather than shielding the Nigerian President.

“They are saying that if we discuss this publicly, we would compromise our agents; we would compromise the techniques that we use to get information,” he said.

He added that the agencies were also concerned about the possible exposure of confidential informants and sources.

“They have sources, they have informants. They don’t want them to be compromised,” Afolabi stated.

‘If He Was Culpable, He Would Have Been Indicted’

The lawyer also rejected allegations linking Tinubu to drug trafficking, insisting that there is no evidence establishing that the President committed such an offence.

Afolabi argued that if US authorities had sufficient evidence to prosecute Tinubu for drug trafficking, the President would have faced an indictment.

“If he was culpable, he simply would have been indicted. There’s no shortcut around it,” he said.

He further explained that appearing in an investigation or being described as a subject of an investigation does not automatically establish criminal wrongdoing.

“Anyone can be a subject of investigation. That’s just how it goes,” Afolabi said, stressing the importance of the presumption of innocence.

Lawyer Refuses To Explain $460,000 Forfeiture

Afolabi, however, declined to discuss Tinubu’s explanation concerning the $460,000 forfeited to the US government in the 1990s, citing attorney-client privilege.

He said information provided to him confidentially by the President could not be disclosed publicly.

“Unfortunately, I can’t divulge any information that my client had disclosed to me confidentially,” he said.

The controversy comes amid renewed scrutiny of US law-enforcement records relating to Tinubu and demands by interested parties for the disclosure of additional FBI and DEA documents. Tinubu’s legal team maintains that any withholding of records should be understood within the framework of US FOIA exemptions and law-enforcement protections, rather than as evidence of a cover-up.