A U.S. court has given the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) a one-month timeline to explain why some records relating to drug-trafficking allegations linked to President Bola Tinubu should remain secret.

The development came after the FBI asked the court to allow it to keep some records concerning an old investigation linked to Mr Tinubu from public disclosure.

Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, on Friday, requested the agency to file its final response on September 18, 2026.

“Set/reset deadlines: by August 28, 2026, and no later, defendants And intervenor file any opposition to plaintiff’s [85] motion for summary judgment and any cross motion due by 8/28/2026. Plaintiff opposition and reply due by 9/11/2026. Defendants response due by 9/18/2026,” the court record showed.

In an update shared on X, a Washington-based lobbying firm, Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C., said the FBI must convince the court why the documents were too sensitive to be released.

The firm was recently retained by the African Democratic Congress presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

Noting that the FBI had acknowledged possessing highly sensitive information related to allegations of drug trafficking involving Mr Tinubu, the firm said the agency’s request for the court to review the documents privately indicated that the material contained information the agency considered particularly sensitive.

“The FBI has now admitted that it has highly sensitive drug-trafficking-related information about President Tinubu. By admitting this, we now know Tinubu’s claim that the case was simply about civil forfeiture is untrue.

“The FBI does not deem civil cases highly sensitive and seeks to present the evidence to the judge in private. This is usually done in high-level drug cases where the goal is to protect the agency’s dealings with the criminal informant. This ties into the allegation that President Tinubu ratted out his alleged co-drug traffickers in exchange for immunity from prosecution,” the firm stated

It accused the FBI of duplicity, while acknowledging President Donald Trump’s administration for moving the case forward after stalling for three years.

“The FBI is following standard procedures for protecting informants, but is also openly communicating that President Tinubu’s claim of innocence is far from the truth. We thank President Trump and the White House senior staff for moving this case forward after three years of stalling and for being fully transparent, unlike the Biden DOJ, which did not acknowledge it had sensitive information on Tinubu,” the firm added.