A US firm linked to Atiku Abubakar says it was offered $3 million to drop its Tinubu records campaign. The allegation comes as its founder reportedly receives a Trump White House appointment.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A United States-based lobbying and policy advisory firm, Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C., has alleged that its managing partner, Dr Karl Von Batten, received an unsolicited $3 million offer from an unidentified individual allegedly connected to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The firm made the allegation in a statement posted on its verified X account on Wednesday, saying the offer also came with an invitation to a confidential meeting in London. It claimed the proposal was intended to persuade Von Batten to stop its campaign seeking the release of US government records concerning allegations involving Tinubu.
According to the firm, Von Batten rejected the alleged offer and retained copies of the communications exchanged with the individual. It further said he contacted members of Atiku’s campaign under the African Democratic Congress to establish the nature of the alleged intermediary’s relationship with Tinubu.
The company did not identify the person who allegedly made the offer and has not publicly released the purported communications. The $3 million claim therefore remains an allegation by the lobbying firm and has not been independently verified.
Von Batten-Montague-York said it believes the proposed payment was an attempt to end its campaign concerning what it described as Tinubu’s alleged heroin-trafficking records. The firm said it intends to submit the alleged offer and related communications to the United States Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for review.
The development has attracted attention in Nigeria because of the firm’s established relationship with Atiku, one of Tinubu’s major political opponents ahead of the 2027 presidential election. US Department of Justice Foreign Agents Registration Act filings show that Atiku engaged Von Batten-Montague-York under a 12-month contract worth $1.2 million. The agreement covers strategic advisory, congressional and executive-branch engagement and reputational management in the United States.
Newstridez’s review of the available FARA records confirms that the relationship between Atiku and the firm is documented. The contract was signed in March 2026 and formally registered with the FARA Unit in April. This means the firm’s campaign against Tinubu cannot be viewed as an entirely independent intervention in Nigeria’s political dispute, given its paid relationship with a leading opposition politician.
The latest allegation is connected to a longer-running campaign over historical US records concerning Tinubu. Von Batten-Montague-York has been pressing for the disclosure of records held by US agencies, including the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration, relating to historical investigations and allegations involving the Nigerian president.
The dispute partly centres on a 1993 US civil forfeiture proceeding involving about $460,000 connected to Tinubu. The case was civil rather than a criminal conviction, and Tinubu was not criminally charged in that proceeding. The historical matter has nevertheless remained a major point of political controversy in Nigeria, particularly as the 2027 election approaches.
A separate Freedom of Information Act case has also sought records connected to historical US investigations. Previous court proceedings resulted in a federal judge rejecting broad attempts by the FBI and DEA to refuse to confirm or deny the existence of responsive records, ordering the agencies to search for and process relevant material subject to lawful exemptions.
The latest $3 million allegation should not be confused with those independently documented legal proceedings. The existence of a FOIA dispute and the historical forfeiture case does not establish that anyone offered Von Batten money to abandon his campaign.
The allegation has also emerged amid a growing political fight over the use of foreign lobbying firms by Nigerian politicians. The Tinubu administration and its supporters have criticised Atiku’s decision to hire a Washington lobbying firm, while Atiku’s camp has defended efforts to challenge what it considers damaging narratives surrounding the former vice-president and his 2027 presidential bid.
In July, the presidency criticised Atiku’s US lobbying arrangement, pointing to the $1.2 million contract and questioning the purpose of using American lobbyists to pursue issues involving Tinubu. The presidency described the strategy as politically motivated and argued that the historical US case involving Tinubu did not amount to a criminal conviction.
The latest development took another turn on Thursday after Von Batten-Montague-York announced that Karl Von Batten had been appointed by US President Donald Trump to serve as a commissioner on a White House presidential commission.
The firm announced the appointment through its X account, describing it as an honour and saying Von Batten was prepared to serve the United States. Nigerian reports identified him as the same lobbyist whose firm had been hired by Atiku earlier in the year.
The timing of the announcement is likely to attract political attention in Nigeria because it comes immediately after the firm’s allegation of a $3 million offer linked, according to the firm, to its campaign against Tinubu. However, the two developments should be treated separately unless evidence emerges connecting them.
The White House commission appointment has also not, from the reports reviewed by Newstridez, been accompanied by detailed public information about the commission’s mandate or Von Batten’s specific responsibilities. The firm’s announcement remains the principal source of the appointment details available in the current reports.
Meanwhile, the identity of the person who allegedly offered the $3 million remains unknown. There is also no public confirmation from the Nigerian Presidency that the person has any relationship with Tinubu.
That distinction is significant because the firm’s allegation currently establishes only what it says happened. It does not establish who made the approach, whether the individual acted on behalf of Tinubu, whether the money actually existed or whether any government official authorised such an offer.
The firm said it would provide the alleged communications to US law enforcement agencies, potentially giving investigators an opportunity to determine whether the approach occurred and who was behind it. Any such investigation or release of documentary evidence could significantly change the political implications of the allegation.
For Nigeria’s 2027 political contest, the episode adds another dimension to the increasingly international battle between Tinubu and his opponents. With political campaigns increasingly extending into Washington through lobbyists, advocacy groups and public-records campaigns, disputes that begin in Nigeria are now generating scrutiny in the United States.
As at the time of filing this report, neither President Tinubu nor the Presidency had publicly confirmed involvement in the alleged $3 million approach. The identity of the alleged offer-maker and the contents of the purported communications remain unresolved.
The next major development will likely depend on whether Von Batten-Montague-York releases the alleged communications or submits them to US authorities. Until independent evidence emerges, the reported $3 million offer remains an unverified allegation by a lobbying firm with a documented $1.2 million relationship with Atiku.
