A Washington lobbying firm paid by former Nigerian vice president Atiku Abubakar says a 2003 embassy letter waved by the Tinubu presidency does not prove the FBI never investigated President Bola Tinubu. Von Batten Montague York said the letter is packed with spelling and grammar mistakes and that even if it is real an arrest and warrant check is not the same as asking whether agents ever opened a case.
The firm was answering a 3 September Statehouse statement by Special Adviser Bayo Onanuga. That statement said the American Consulate in Lagos wrote Inspector General Tafa Balogun on 4 February 2003 that an FBI National Crime Information Center check found no criminal arrest records wants or warrants for then Governor Tinubu. The presidency used that paper to frame a Washington lawsuit as a civil records fight not a crime case.
The lobbyists say that framing misses the point. If Tinubu was caught by the FBI and DEA became an informant named alleged partners and cut a deal to stay off the arrest books then an embassy NCIC search would show a clean slate even if a drug case file still existed. They call that the reason a no warrant letter and a live records fight can sit side by side.
The firm says the FBI has now told the court under oath that there was an official investigation of Tinubu and that 399 Tinubu related pages given to the judge for private review were built during a drug trafficking probe. It also says an FBI filing asked the court to keep secret wire tap recordings tied to those files and that the taps were gathered while agents looked at several people for heroin crimes. The bureau cited Title Three wire tap law and FOIA Exemption 3. The firm notes the FBI wrote that privacy usually fades after death and says it believes Tinubu is the only targeted person from that old case still alive.
The lawsuit is Greenspan versus Executive Office for United States Attorneys before Judge Beryl Howell in the District of Columbia. Aaron Greenspan filed after 2022 FOIA requests. Tinubu later joined as an intervenor. Other agencies left the case after Glomar answers. The FBI and DEA released 399 pages with cuts for grand jury secrecy pen registers lawyer work product privacy and source protection. The plaintiff must reply by 11 September 2026. The FBI DEA and Tinubu side must answer by 18 September 2026.
Von Batten Montague York is not a party. It has asked to file a friend of the court brief arguing that the official Statehouse statement talking about the same files weakens Tinubus privacy claim under Exemption 7C. It notified Greenspan the Justice Department and Tinubus lawyers.
Atiku hired the firm in March 2026 on a twelve month contract worth one point two million dollars to raise his name in Washington and push back on Nigerian government talking points. The firm has circulated 1993 civil forfeiture papers naming Tinubu Adegboyega Mueez Akande and Abiodun Agbele in a heroin proceeds case. It reported to the Justice Department an unsolicited three million dollar offer and a private London meeting request that used disappearing messages. It later sent the FBI an information note naming Onanuga Sunday Dare and Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo over what it called a coordinated campaign against its work. Keyamo called the row a storm in a teacup. The firm said a cabinet minister would not bother if the fight were empty.
A side fight broke out over Von Battens unpaid seat on the Commission on Presidential Scholars. The firm has also claimed Tinubu will not get a private meeting with President Trump at the United Nations gathering and that an APC linked person gave the EFCC fourteen days to arrest Atiku ahead of the 2027 vote.
No judge has ruled that Tinubu was an informant. No court has released the tapes. The presidency still says a records case is not a guilty verdict. The firm still says a messy embassy letter cannot erase an FBI statement that the 399 pages came from a drug trafficking investigation. Mid September filings will show how much of that fight the court is willing to hear.
