United States Congressman Ronny Jackson says Nigeria has become a new hub for South American drug traffickers. He made the remark in a private talk with Von Batten Montague York after the Washington firm laid out old United States Justice Department papers on alleged heroin trafficking tied to President Bola Tinubu.
The firm later made the warning public. It said the comment should worry both Nigerians and Americans. It argued that Nigeria should be known as the Giant of Africa not as a center for international drug traffic. Jackson did not release a long public speech on the point. The account comes from Von Batten Montague York which works in Washington for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
The timing is the fight. Tinubu took office in 2023. Since then, United States and United Nations reports have described Nigeria as a source a transit point and a market for cocaine heroin and methamphetamine. A Congressional Research Service report updated in July 2026 repeated that picture.
The street evidence is newer and louder. In May 2026 Nigerian drug agents smashed what they called the largest meth lab ever found in the country. They seized more than 2.4 tons of meth and chemicals worth hundreds of millions of dollars in an Ogun State forest and arrested Nigerians plus Mexican cooks. In June they hit another forest lab in Oyo State and arrested a Mexican specialist with local partners. BBC and United States Africa Command have said Mexican groups including Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation have been sending meth makers into Africa. Four of five labs counted in the last year were in Nigeria.
That is the shift. For years West Africa was mainly a corridor for cocaine moving from South America toward Europe. Now cartels are also cooking drugs on Nigerian soil. NDLEA chief Mohamed Buba Marwa has said the gangs hire South American specialists to set up factories in rural bush. His agency presents the raids as proof they are fighting back. Critics say the raids also prove the cartels have already arrived.
Von Batten Montague York ties the new traffic to the old Chicago case. In 1993 United States officials took 460000 dollars from a bank account in Tinubu name after a civil case linked the money to a heroin network that moved drugs into Chicago between 1988 and 1991. Tinubu was never charged or convicted. He denies any role in trafficking. His lawyers call it a civil money case. On 28 August 2026 the FBI faced a court deadline to give Judge Beryl Howell private papers on those files and to argue why some should stay hidden.
The firm now asks Congress a blunt question. Are South American cartels looking at Nigeria because they know the old allegations around the president or is something else drawing them. It plans to press that point in meetings with lawmakers.
Many Nigerians want the full lawful release of the FBI papers. On 22 August 2026 Atiku said through aide Phrank Shaibu that the FBI can protect agents and sources but should not hide the rest. NN News Media reported that people at home and abroad were demanding the files and comparing the delay with the United States arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Those two cases are not the same in court. Maduro faces a criminal action. Tinubu does not. The demand for open records is still rising.
Tinubu government says it is not a narco state. It points to thousands of arrests huge seizures and new deals with partners such as Brazil to fight cross border crime. Officials note that drug routes through West Africa existed long before 2023.
Jackson warning still lands. When a member of the United States Congress calls Nigeria a new home for South American drug traffickers the damage is not only about labs in the bush. It is about how Washington now looks at Africa most populous nation while the old Tinubu drug trafficking files sit before a federal judge.
