The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation has warned that releasing some records relating to President Bola Tinubu could endanger the lives or physical safety of individuals, as it seeks permission to privately explain why the documents were withheld.

The FBI made the disclosure in an application filed before the US District Court for the District of Columbia on August 20, asking the court to allow it to submit a confidential declaration explaining its position.

The agency said it could not publicly disclose the full reasons for withholding some of the records because doing so could expose sensitive law-enforcement techniques and procedures.

The FBI is seeking an ex parte, in camera declaration, which would allow it to provide the judge with its explanation privately and under seal.

The records are being sought by Aaron Greenspan, founder of PlainSite, who filed Freedom of Information Act requests for documents relating to Tinubu from 1992 and 1993.

Among the requests is Tinubu’s entire FBI file and interview records connected to an FBI case.

In its application, the FBI said it had invoked several exemptions under the US Freedom of Information Act, including provisions covering personal privacy, confidential sources, law-enforcement techniques and information that could endanger an individual.

The agency said: “The FBI has determined that it cannot provide on the public record the full basis for the application of Exemptions 7(E) and 7(F) to certain withholdings and that, therefore, an ex parte, under seal declaration is necessary.”

The FBI said it would submit the confidential declaration before August 28 if the court grants its request.

The development is the latest step in a prolonged legal dispute over requests for US government records concerning allegations linked to Tinubu and a Chicago drug investigation dating to the early 1990s.

The case began after Greenspan filed multiple FOIA requests with six US federal agencies.

The FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and other agencies initially refused to confirm or deny whether some of the requested records existed.

However, in April 2025, Judge Beryl Howell ruled that the FBI and DEA had failed to sufficiently justify their refusal to confirm or deny the existence of records concerning Tinubu, ordering the agencies to lift their so-called “Glomar” responses.

The latest application comes as the US Department of Justice continues to respond to court orders concerning the records.

Tinubu’s legal team had also sought additional time to respond, but Judge Howell reportedly declined the request for a 10-day extension.

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is spreading at an alarming rate, with more than 2,500 people reportedly killed in the past three months, according to the United Nations’ senior Ebola coordinator, Julien Harneis.

Harneis, who spoke to reporters in Geneva on Friday from Bunia, the epicentre of the outbreak, described the situation as “growing exponentially.”

He said about half of the reported deaths had occurred within the last 20 days, highlighting the rapid deterioration of the outbreak.

“The epidemic is spreading widely. It’s now covering an area that is bigger than France,” Harneis said, warning that the disease was spreading faster and across a wider area than the ongoing response efforts.

The outbreak, which was declared on May 15, is the DRC’s 17th Ebola outbreak and is believed to have been circulating for several weeks before it was officially detected.

It has affected areas in the country’s north and east, where weak government presence, limited healthcare infrastructure and the activities of armed groups have complicated efforts to contain the virus.

Harneis called for an urgent increase in resources and personnel, particularly in remote areas of eastern DRC.

He said strengthening the response could help slow transmission and eventually halt the outbreak within months.

However, he warned that failure to scale up the response could lead to more deaths, wider transmission and a risk of the virus spreading to neighbouring countries.

The latest outbreak is already the largest in the country’s history and, according to Harneis, is spreading faster than any Ebola outbreak recorded previously.

German authorities deported at least 137 Nigerian citizens across five chartered flights between February and June 2026, according to migration monitoring reports.

Data from the DERS Team and Refugees4refugees.org shows the deportations occurred in phases, with 27 Nigerians returned in February, 37 in March through a joint European Union operation, 24 in April, 23 in May, and 26 in June.

The February operation departed from Stuttgart and landed at Lagos Cargo Airport, with Baden-Württemberg listed as a primary participant. The March operation represented the largest single return of Nigerians recorded over three years and was executed in collaboration with Spain, Austria, and Belgium.

The reports indicate a growing reliance on multi-national chartered flights by European states to repatriate undocumented or non-resident individuals to Nigeria.