Atiku's US Lobbying Firm Submits Tinubu Forfeiture Records to Trump

A Washington-based operation called Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C. has started distributing federal materials to members of Donald Trump's administration, Congressional representatives, and their staffers. These documents focus on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Atiku Abubakar's team engaged this lobbying firm in March under a 12-month contract valued at $1.2 million, seeking to improve Atiku's position among U.S. officials and build stronger ties with American government agencies. At the center of the distributed materials are records from a 1993 civil forfeiture proceeding linked to money laundering and drug trafficking allegations.

Funds associated with Tinubu during that era form the basis of these allegations. The United States Department of Justice is the source of these records, as the lobbying firm has publicly confirmed.

Von Batten-Montague-York justified sharing these decades-old materials by noting that many within the U.S. government had no prior awareness of the allegations in question. Atiku's media representative, Paul Ibe, asserted on social media that the materials span more than 60 pages.

He stated they contain information about a heroin trafficking probe from the late 1980s and a $460,000 forfeiture situation. According to Ibe's claims, Trump received word of this information through the firm's distribution efforts.

The original agreement between Atiku's camp and Von Batten-Montague-York contained objectives to counter opposing narratives and present Atiku's stance on Nigeria-U.S. relations. By sharing these documents, Atiku's backers have sought to draw attention to what they view as historical legal troubles faced by his political rival.

Tinubu has offered no public remarks regarding these developments.