In a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case that independent media outlet West Africa Weekly pursued in the United States through legal web portal PlainSite, the CIA, FBI, and US Drug Enforcement Agency collectively resisted calls to remove redactions on records related to Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s alleged drug trafficking and money laundering, raising suspicion that he or people close to him may be US intelligence assets.
The CIA, in particular, argued that disclosing if Tinubu cooperated with the agency could compromise their ‘human intelligence’ operations, undermine US security, and inadvertently reveal the extent of the CIA’s intelligence network.
Tinubu has done little to inspire confidence. Upon taking power, he quickly adopted International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommendations by scrapping fuel subsidies and allowing the Naira currency to devalue, triggering its sharpest fall in history. Inflation has reached a 30-year peak and food prices have soared, leaving many families struggling. On the geopolitical front, Tinubu advocated for military intervention in neighbouring Niger following a popular 2023 coup d’état against Western-aligned leader Mohamed Bazoum.
Sources
News
https://x.com/davidhundeyin/status/1856379819572818210
Documents
https://www.plainsite.org/dockets/download.html?id=334545504&a=1&z=79042c23
Tinubu implements Economic policies backed by IMF
https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/07/24/nigeria-tinubu-reform-economic-development-debt-imf-world-bank/
Tinubu threatens Niger invasion
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-66430113
Naira’s fall
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nigeria-naira-falls-record-low-194518731.html