RismadarVoice Reporters
September 1, 2026
The Presidency has accused former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of spending $1.2 million on a Washington-based lobbying firm to promote what it described as politically motivated claims against President Bola Tinubu ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communications, Sunday Dare, made the allegation in a statement on Tuesday, challenging reports attributed to Dr Karl-Marx Edward Okeke-Von Batten and questioning claims that they represented classified intelligence or the position of the United States government.
Dare said publicly available filings under the United States Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) showed that Atiku contracted Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C. on a 12-month, $1.2 million retainer.
He alleged that the firm’s engagement was designed to counter Nigerian government narratives and exploit historical U.S. legal records for political purposes ahead of the 2027 elections.
The presidential aide dismissed claims of a classified intelligence breakthrough, saying the reports contained no intelligence document, named Western official or documentary evidence establishing any exchange involving Nigeria’s secrets or resources.
Dare challenged those behind the reports to produce the alleged “highly classified intelligence report” and identify their unnamed sources, insisting that the claims should not be presented as the position of the U.S. government or President Donald Trump.
He also questioned Okeke-Von Batten’s description of himself as a “Senior Government Advisor”, identifying him instead as a commercial lobbyist and founder of Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C.
On the ongoing U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) proceedings involving historical records, Dare said the case had been active since 2023 and maintained that the proceedings were unrelated to President Tinubu’s current movements.
He cited comments by Wole Afolabi, SAN, during a recent Channels Television programme, arguing that efforts to withhold portions of the records were based on U.S. legal provisions protecting confidential investigative processes.
According to Dare, the American authorities would have prosecuted the President if there had been sufficient grounds for criminal liability at the relevant time, stressing that legal proceedings should be determined by evidence and due process rather than political narratives.
The Presidency further accused the opposition of relying on foreign lobbying and historical legal records instead of presenting Nigerians with a coherent policy alternative ahead of the 2027 elections.
Dare said the Tinubu administration remained focused on fiscal reforms, infrastructure development and institutional reforms, arguing that the next electoral contest would ultimately be determined by the government’s record, policy proposals and the verdict of Nigerian voters.
He described the alleged Washington lobbying campaign as an attempt to manufacture political controversy from abroad, insisting that democratic legitimacy could only be secured through domestic accountability, policy credibility and the ballot box.
