Mike Arnold and President Bola Tinubu Photo: Inshot
By Our Reporter
A former Mayor of Blanco,Texas, in the United States, and founder of Africa Arise International,Mike Arnold, has said that the legal justification being given for withholding files relating to President Bola Tinubu is reasonable, adding that the release of the documents could potentially endanger “an informant” whose identity may be contained in the records.
Arnold, a strategist, communicator, political consultant, journalist, filmmaker, nonprofit founder and author, stated this while reacting to discussions surrounding the continued withholding of the files and allegations that individuals, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), a judge or President Donald Trump may have been paid to prevent their release
In a statement issued by Arnold on Saturday, he said such allegations were unfounded, arguing that the United States operates under a system of transparency and the rule of law.
“Re: Tinubu files, Nigerians need to understand the US doesn’t work like Nigeria. With all our flaws, we do have transparency and the rule of law. Not to say it is perfect, but it’s strong,” he said.
“So no, nobody paid the FBI or CIA or the judge or Trump to block the release of the files. The legal reason they are stating is valid (not saying it’s accurate, but it is plausible): Release of the files would endanger lives — likely either informant(s) or undercover agents. That’s the question on the table before the judge now.”
Arnold questioned whose life could allegedly be at risk if the documents were made public, arguing that the passage of more than three decades made it unlikely that an undercover operative would be involved.
“And since that is the question, what is the answer? Whose life or lives are they afraid will be threatened if this information comes out? Seeing that we’re 33 years later, there’s zero chance it’s an undercover operative. So it’s a snitch. A rat,” he said.
He subsequently alleged that Tinubu himself was opposing the release of the files and linked this to the circumstances surrounding the president’s legal troubles in the United States in 1993.
“And who is the one fighting the release? Tinubu himself. So it stands to reason that the way he got out of the heroin trafficking charges back in 1993 was not just forfeiting the $460k, but also ratting out others in the network,” Arnold alleged.
Arnold further claimed that the alleged operation extended into the South East Asian underworld and involved individuals who, according to him, occupied positions of influence at the time and remain influential.
“This was a big operation, reaching into the South East Asian underworld — where people in power then are still in power now,” he said.
He also drew a connection between Tinubu’s departure from the United States and subsequent American action against criminal networks in the region, questioning whether information allegedly provided by Tinubu contributed to those operations.
“Not long after Tinubu left the US, the US attacked those networks. Was it based on information Tinubu provided? If so, then yes, releasing the files may well put his life in danger,” Arnold said.
He also questioned whether prominent Nigerians were among those whose names may have been provided to US authorities, suggesting that such information could have political consequences for Tinubu.
“Did he turn over names of prominent Nigerians too? People who may back him now politically, unwittingly? That could prove fatal for him, too.”
Arnold described his claims as a theory rather than an established fact, concluding: “This is my working theory: BAT is a RAT.”
The allegations made by Arnold, including claims linking Tinubu to the 1993 heroin trafficking case and suggesting that he provided information to US authorities, were presented as his own theory and were not independently established in his statement.
Recall that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar told the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that Nigerians were already dying under President Bola Tinubu’s administration, rejecting the agency’s invocation of “danger to lives” as justification for keeping potentially disclosable records concerning the Nigerian president away from public scrutiny.
Atiku, in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said Nigerians could not be expected to accept a blanket invocation of “danger to lives” when millions of citizens were already facing severe economic hardship and insecurity.
He said the irony of the FBI’s position would be laughable if the reality in Nigeria were not so tragic.
