By Our Correspondent
A United States-based policy advisory and lobbying firm linked to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has alleged that President Bola Tinubu may face criminal charges after leaving office, in connection with decades-old heroin-trafficking allegations that have trailed him since the early 1990s.
Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C., which is understood to be working under a reported $1.2 million lobbying contract with the Atiku Abubakar presidential campaign, made the assertion in a post on its verified X handle on Tuesday.
The firm, however, stressed that the filings it has reviewed do not explicitly establish that the U.S. government intends to charge President Tinubu, but rather that the responses of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to certain enquiries have raised serious questions about their future intentions and whether a law-enforcement investigation or proceeding may still exist.
According to the firm, on two separate occasions, the FBI and DEA were asked to agree that, more than 30 years later, no investigation is pending and no enforcement proceeding is ongoing concerning the crimes described in the underlying cases. The agencies refused to confirm either assertion, stating instead that they are “not obligated to comment on whether a law-enforcement investigation or proceeding may exist.”
“What is significant about that answer is that the FBI and DEA directly answered numerous other factual assertions in the same filing,” the firm noted.
“From the records, we know that some individuals associated with the underlying investigation are dead and that the FBI and DEA filings reference wiretaps. The FBI and DEA’s refusal to confirm that no investigation or enforcement proceeding exists is noteworthy.
“Their refusal doesn’t prove charges are coming against President Tinubu, but given how President Donald Trump operates, it raises the question: Why won’t the FBI and DEA simply say that no current investigation or proceeding connected to these cases or involving President Tinubu exists?”
The development comes amid an ongoing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by American transparency activist Aaron Greenspan, who has been seeking access to U.S. law-enforcement records relating to President Tinubu.
A sworn declaration filed by the FBI in August reaffirmed that Tinubu was a subject of a criminal investigation involving the agency and the DEA in the early 1990s.
The FBI said the records sought in the case were “compiled in furtherance” of its investigation of multiple individuals for drug-trafficking crimes. The records relate to a broader investigation into a Chicago-based heroin trafficking and money-laundering operation in the early 1990s.
However, the court’s April 2025 ruling did not find that Tinubu committed a drug-trafficking offence, nor did it amount to a criminal charge or conviction against him.
The 1993 civil forfeiture proceedings were resolved through a civil settlement, with a portion of the disputed funds forfeited to the U.S. government. Under U.S. law, a civil forfeiture proceeding does not amount to a finding of guilt unless a competent criminal court has convicted the individual after due process.
President Tinubu, through his legal team, has continued to challenge further disclosure of records in the case, urging the court to allow the FBI and DEA to retain their redactions and withholdings.
He has argued that the claims of a secret criminal prosecution or government cover-up are unsubstantiated and unsupported by evidence.
“The claim that there is some cover-up conspiracy is unsubstantiated by actual evidence,” President Tinubu submitted through his attorneys. He also argued that Greenspan’s FOIA requests were intended to uncover possible criminal records and “utilize those to influence politics in a foreign nation.”
The Presidency has previously described Atiku’s lobbying efforts as an affront to Nigeria’s sovereignty, with presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga accusing the former vice president of “externalising domestic politics.”
The APC presidential campaign council has also dismissed the latest claims as a desperate distraction from the Tinubu administration’s achievements and a calculated attempt to undermine the President’s reputation ahead of the 2027 elections.
Meanwhile, legal experts have cautioned against drawing conclusions from the FBI and DEA’s responses, noting that standard practice for U.S. law-enforcement agencies is to neither confirm nor deny ongoing investigations. However, others argue that the refusal to clarify the status of a three-decade-old case is unusual and warrants further scrutiny.
As the 2027 election campaign heats up, the lingering legal cloud over President Tinubu is likely to remain a contentious issue, with the opposition determined to keep it in the public eye and the ruling party equally resolved to dismiss it as a baseless distraction.
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