The FBI has rejected an application from an American, Jeffrey Guterman, a former American mental health counselor, to release a file on Nigeria’s President-elect Bola Tinubu.
Guterman stated in a Friday tweet that his request was denied because “the existence of files on third-party individuals would neither be confirmed nor denied by the FBI because of unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”
Remember that the retired mental health counselor last month asked the FBI to divulge data about Tinubu’s $460,000 forfeiture for narcotics trafficking in the United States.
The FBI, however, informed Guterman that his request submission did not comply with their rules of service.
He wrote, “See below a copy of the letter I received today from the @FBI regarding my request, based on the Freedom of Information Act, for the FBI file on Bola Tinubu.”
“My request was rejected because, according to the FBI, the existence of files on third-party individuals will neither be confirmed nor denied by the FBI because of unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”
“I found it noteworthy that in my online submission, I referred to Tinubu as “Bola Tinubu,” but in their letter, the FBI referred to him as TINUBU, BOLA AHMED. How would the FBI access the Ahmed part of his name? Again, I did not provide the Ahmed part of his name in my submission. Moreover, it is public knowledge that the FBI has a file on Tinubu for his $460,000 forfeiture to the US.”
“The letter also states that if I received their response through standard mail (which I did), this is because my online submission did not meet their terms of service. According to the letter, my options are to (1) submit questions by email or call their office, (2) administratively appeal their decision within 90 days of their letter, and/or (3) seek dispute resolution by email.”
“I will now consider my next plan of action.”
