The Federal Bureau of Intelligence, has rejected the application by a retired American mental health counsellor, Jeffrey Guterman, requesting a file on Nigeria’s President-elect Bola Tinubu.
Disclosing this, through a tweet on Friday, Guterman revealed that his request was rejected because, according to the FBI, “the existence of files on third-party individuals would neither be confirmed nor denied by the FBI due to unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”
The American, had last month filed a request asking the FBI to release records on Tinubu’s $460,000 forfeiture on drug trafficking in the United States.
In its reply to Guterman’s request, the FBI explained that his request did not meet their terms of service.
Briefing this via his Twitter handle, the retired mental health counsellor, what that h was told by the FBI, to ()submit any questions by mail or call the FBI’s office directly, (2) administratively appeal their decision within 90 days of the letter and/or seek dispute resolution by email, said, he will consider his next plan of action.
“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 due to 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 any questions by email or call their office, (2) administratively appeal their decision within 90 days of the date of their letter, and/or (3) seek dispute resolution by email.
“I will now consider my next plan of action,” he wrote.
