A United States federal judge, Beryl Howell, has given US Attorney Jeanine Pirro an additional four days to release records relating to a long-running Freedom of Information Act request concerning alleged US drug-trafficking investigations involving Nigerian President Bola Tinubu. The records are being sought by transparency advocate Aaron Greenspan.

The case dates back to requests for documents connected to a 1990s Chicago-based drug investigation. The records sought include materials from the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) concerning investigations involving Tinubu and other individuals. Earlier court proceedings had already directed the agencies to search for and produce non-exempt records.

The latest development follows delays by US authorities in releasing the documents. In an earlier proceeding, the FBI and DEA had sought additional time, saying they needed to complete searches and identify records that could legally be disclosed. Greenspan opposed the extension, arguing that the agencies had already identified responsive documents and that the case had been delayed for years.

The court’s latest deadline puts renewed pressure on the US authorities to comply with the disclosure process. The existence of records concerning an investigation does not, by itself, establish that Tinubu committed drug-trafficking offences, and any allegations contained in unreleased or subsequently released records would need to be assessed in their proper legal and factual context.