Release Tinubu’s records, Atiku tells FBI

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The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress in the 2027 election, Atiku Abubakar, has urged the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation to release, where legally permissible, records relating to President Bola Tinubu.

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He said Nigerians have a democratic right to information about the history and character of the man seeking to retain the country’s highest elective office.

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Atiku, in a statement issued on Saturday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said the FBI could protect sensitive law-enforcement information without withholding records that could legitimately be disclosed in the public interest.

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The former vice president was reacting to the reported position of the American law-enforcement agency that the disclosure of some records could pose a danger to lives.

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Atiku questioned the scope of that justification, saying that Nigerians were already facing grave threats to their lives and livelihoods as a result of insecurity and economic hardship.

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“The FBI says disclosure could endanger lives. Which lives? Nigerians are already dying,” the statement read in part.

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He accused the Tinubu-led government of worsening the economic hardship facing citizens through policies that, according to him, had increased the cost of transportation, food, healthcare and other basic necessities.

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“In the past three and a half years since Tinubu became Nigeria’s President, he has pursued economic policies that have made his government a threat to the daily survival of ordinary Nigerians,” Atiku said.

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He listed terrorism, banditry, hunger, unaffordable healthcare and rising household expenses among the challenges confronting Nigerians, saying families that previously managed three meals a day were increasingly struggling to afford even one.

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“Danger to life is therefore not a legal abstraction to Nigerians. It is a daily reality in our homes, hospitals, farms, highways and communities,” he added.

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He framed the issue as one of democratic accountability rather than an attempt to involve the United States in Nigeria’s electoral process.

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“Our demand of American law enforcement is not a call to interfere in Nigeria’s politics. It is a humanitarian and democratic appeal rooted in the principle that people have a right to information legitimately available about those who exercise enormous power over their lives,” Atiku said.

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The ex-vice president maintained that Nigerians should be able to scrutinise the background of any individual occupying the presidency, particularly ahead of a general election.

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He also charged the FBI to release any information relevant to legitimate public interest if doing so would not compromise investigations or other protected interests.

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“If information can lawfully be released without endangering investigators, confidential sources or legitimate law-enforcement operations, release it.

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“Nigerians are not asking America to conduct our democracy for us. We are saying that American secrecy laws must not inadvertently become a sanctuary from accountability in Nigeria.

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The controversy over records concerning Tinubu in the United States has attracted renewed political attention as Nigerian opposition parties intensify their preparations for the 2027 presidential election.

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The debate has also raised broader questions about the balance between public access to information and the protection of confidential law-enforcement material.

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