A US-based lobbying firm hired by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar says it has begun distributing US Department of Justice (DOJ) records relating to President Bola Tinubu’s 1993 civil forfeiture case to members of the Donald Trump administration, members of Congress, and senior congressional staff.
Von Batten-Montague-York, which Atiku engaged in March under a 12-month, $1.2 million lobbying contract, said the documents include more than 60 pages of DOJ filings, supporting affidavits and federal court decisions connected to the forfeiture proceedings.
According to the firm, the records relate to a DOJ investigation into a heroin trafficking network that operated between the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The documents alleged that proceeds from the network were deposited into US bank accounts linked to Tinubu.
The firm said its objective is to ensure relevant US officials are fully aware of the historical case.
The lobbying firm also circulated a chronology of the 1993 civil forfeiture case and the ongoing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation filed in 2023 by journalist Aaron Greenspan, seeking additional records from US agencies.
It noted that parts of the FOIA case remain before the courts.
The issue was a major point of contention during Nigeria’s 2023 presidential election litigation, where Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar argued that Tinubu should have been disqualified over the US forfeiture.
However, the Presidential Election Petition Court ruled that the petitioners failed to prove Tinubu had been convicted of any criminal offence in the United States.
The court further held that the forfeiture proceedings were civil not criminal and found no evidence that Tinubu submitted false information to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by not disclosing the forfeiture.
