A United States federal court has granted the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) permission to submit documents linked to an alleged drug-trafficking investigation involving President Bola Tinubu for private judicial review.

The development is part of a long-running Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case seeking the release of records concerning allegations linked to Tinubu.

According to an update posted on X by Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C., a Washington-based lobbying firm, Judge Beryl Howell of the US District Court for the District of Columbia granted the FBI permission on Friday to submit the documents to the court privately for in-camera review.

The firm said the judge had also given the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Tinubu until August 28, 2026, to file their opposition to the release of the records.

It described the court's use of the phrase “and no later” as an indication that the deadline would be strictly enforced.

The firm said the FBI would now have to convince the court that the records should remain undisclosed, including by presenting sensitive materials privately to the judge for review.

According to the firm, the FBI had acknowledged that it possessed sensitive information relating to allegations of drug trafficking involving Tinubu.

It further argued that the agency's request for a private review suggested that the records contained information the FBI considered particularly sensitive.

The lobbying firm also alleged that the records could contain information relating to criminal informants and argued that this would contradict previous descriptions of the matter as being solely related to civil forfeiture.

“We have now been informed that US Court’s Judge Howell this morning granted the FBI permission to provide the court with the documents in private,” the firm said in its post.

However, the development had not appeared on the court docket at the time of the report, and the claim was based solely on the firm's post on X.

The case stems from efforts to obtain records relating to an old US investigation allegedly connected to Tinubu. The FBI had previously asked the court for permission to submit a confidential declaration explaining why some of the records should remain withheld from public disclosure.

The agency had cited exemptions under the US FOIA, arguing that disclosure could reveal law-enforcement techniques and potentially endanger individuals.

The latest development means the court will now consider the FBI's arguments and the sensitive material privately before determining whether the records, or portions of them, should be released.