A Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm, Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C., reportedly recruited by Nigeria’s former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has labelled President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as “Public Enemy Number 1 of the United States who has successfully escaped justice,“ and has urged Congress to ensure that his FBI files over alleged drug traficking are released.
According to the firm, the allegations against Mr. Tinubu are not merely a Nigerian domestic political matter. “They raise legitimate questions for U.S. policymakers about national security, law-enforcement cooperation, intelligence sharing, counternarcotics efforts, and the credibility of a major U.S. partner in West Africa,“ they wrote on X.
“Members of Congress and senior congressional staff returned to Washington today, and we wasted no time.
“We immediately began reaching out to our friends on Capitol Hill. We spent the day bringing them up to date on the FOIA case concerning allegations of heroin trafficking involving Nigerian President Bola Tinubu during the 1980s and 1990s.”
The Lobbyists noted that the said allegations concerning President Tinubu of heroin trafficking during the 1980s and 1990s warrant the attention of U.S. policymakers.
It stressed the implications of the allegations for Nigeria-U.S. relations, particularly as Washington reassesses its strategic partnerships across Africa.
The firm stated that U.S. policymakers should consider “whether President Tinubu represents a strategic asset or an increasing national-security liability.”
Meanwhile, the firm has also claimed on X that it was offered $3 million to drop the alleged drug trafficking probe of Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu.
But, according to them, its leader, Dr Von Batten, refused the offers, preserved copies of the exchanges, and contacted members of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar’s campaign to determine the nature of the individual’s relationship with President Tinubu.
It said that after the refusals, a smear campaign against Dr Von Batten began. insisting that it would be providing the $3 million offer and related communications to the Department of Justice, DOJ, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, to protect its reputation and allow the appropriate authorities to review the matter.
Atiku, who is the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Party (ADC) in the 2027 election is seeking to inflict political damage on Tinubu, by disqualifying him from contesting. Observers say that he is pushing to prove, with the release of Tinubu’s FBI files, that he presented a forged certificate to INEC, contrary to Section 137 (1) (J) of the Nigerian Constitution.
Meanhile, Tinubu’s lawyers have asked a US district court to block the release of the files, claiming that it would harm their client, who they say is a private person. Though many legal scholars would disagree.
The Presidency had yet to respond to this latest development in the Tinubu FBI files saga as at the time of filing this report.