A Washington-based lobbying firm hired by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has begun circulating U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) records relating to President Bola Tinubu’s 1993 civil forfeiture case to officials in the Donald Trump administration, members of Congress, and senior congressional staff.
The firm, Von Batten-Montague-York, which was retained by Atiku under a 12-month, $1.2 million lobbying contract, disclosed the development in a post on X, saying it had shared more than 60 pages of DOJ court filings, affidavits and related federal court decisions concerning allegations linked to a heroin trafficking investigation from the late 1980s and early 1990s.
According to the firm, the documents are being distributed after discussions with White House officials and congressional staff to ensure the records are available to U.S. policymakers, especially amid reports that Tinubu is seeking a meeting with President Trump during the upcoming United Nations General Assembly.
The circulated chronology revisits the DOJ’s 1993 civil forfeiture case, in which U.S. authorities alleged that funds in bank accounts linked to Tinubu were proceeds of heroin trafficking. The case ended in a negotiated civil settlement in which part of the funds was forfeited to the U.S. government.
The document also references an ongoing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed in 2023 by journalist Aaron Greenspan, seeking the release of additional records related to the historical investigation. A U.S. court later ordered some federal agencies to process responsive records instead of issuing blanket refusals to confirm or deny their existence.
Tinubu’s 1993 forfeiture case was a major issue during the 2023 presidential election litigation. However, Nigeria’s Presidential Election Petition Court ruled that the proceedings were civil, not criminal, and held that there was no evidence Tinubu had been convicted of any offence in the United States or made false declarations to INEC.
