The United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the State Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation will start releasing approximately 2,500 documents relating to President Bola Tinubu in its database.
The update was published on Monday, September 11 by the Peoples Gazette.
The frontline American law enforcement institution, FBI said it would start releasing the documents effective October ending at 500 pages per month, according to a new court filing obtained by The Gazette.
“FBI has identified a total of approximately 2500 pages potentially responsive to FOIA requests 1553430-00 and 1587544-000,” the U.S. body said in a status report docketed on September 11 at the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C.
It noted that the “FBI plans a processing schedule of 500 pages per month, with an initial release anticipated by the end of October 2023.”
The unexpected move followed FBI’s initial reluctance to turn over the documents in line with a freedom of information request first filed in 2022.
Aaron Greenspan, who runs PlainSite, a website that pushes anti-corruption and transparency in public service, filed the request in collaboration with journalist David Hundeyin.
The Gazette has monitored the application for months and offered suggestions to help ensure its success after initial excuses by the FBI.
The newspaper added that the disclosure is expected to clarify outstanding questions about when Mr Tinubu entered the U.S., under which name he entered and all activities he has been involved in ever since.
Tinubu spent decades in the United States, appearing to have first moved there in the 1970s. More details about his forfeiture of $460,000 over drug dealing in Chicago the 1990s are also expected to be among the records to be released.
The Nigerian president’s background has remained a mystery for most citizens as questions about his real parents, his state of origin and childhood education remain unknown.