A Washington lobbying firm said the Nigerian Presidency loves to dig itself into a hole and that it will help them do so. Von Batten Montague York L.C. said President Bola Tinubu’s campaign against Dr Karl Von Batten now includes Special Adviser Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser Sunday Dare and Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo.
The firm said it believes their planned and coordinated attacks are aimed at disrupting its First Amendment protected advocacy in the United States seeking disclosure of FBI and DEA records concerning President Tinubu’s alleged drug trafficking past.
It said it is preparing two separate actions.
First it will submit supplemental evidence to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The filing is a Supplemental Notice of Evidentiary Exhibits in support of Dr Von Batten’s 4 September 2026 motion for leave to file an amicus curiae brief in Greenspan versus Executive Office for United States Attorneys and others, with Bola Ahmed Tinubu as intervenor defendant, Case No. 1:23 cv 01816 BAH before Judge Beryl A Howell.
The supplement says senior officials of the Federal Government of Nigeria have escalated their public response to the advocacy over the FBI and DEA records. The response has grown from official public statements to communications involving the Executive Branch of the United States. Dr Von Batten argues this further supports the claim that President Tinubu has waived or at least severely diminished any remaining personal privacy interest under FOIA Exemption 7C.
The court paper notes that a 3 September 2026 Statehouse statement did more than acknowledge the case. It publicly discussed the FBI and DEA records, a 399 page production, the FOIA exemptions asserted by the United States Government, the posture of the litigation, and Tinubu’s own use of Exemption 7C.
The firm’s public statement said President Tinubu cannot demand privacy for his investigative records while his Presidency, presidential advisers and cabinet ministers publicly fight over those same records. It said a government cannot use its machinery in the court of public opinion and then run into a United States federal court demanding privacy.
Second, out of an abundance of caution, the firm said it will report the broader pattern of conduct to the FBI for independent review. That includes the public targeting of Dr Von Batten and reported contacts with the White House over his presidential commission appointment.
A 5 September 2026 information referral from Dr Karl Von Batten, Managing Partner of Von Batten Montague York L.C., was addressed to the FBI Washington Field Office. The subject is conduct by officials associated with the Federal Government of Nigeria directed at a United States based advocate.
The referral says it is not submitted because Dr Von Batten has independently concluded that a federal crime occurred, and it does not ask the FBI to accept his characterization of events. It provides information and supporting evidence so United States authorities can decide whether the conduct has counterintelligence, foreign influence, transnational repression, harassment, interference or other national security significance under United States law.
The firm said it is not declaring that a federal crime occurred. That determination belongs to United States authorities. It said that when officials of a foreign government bring their campaign against an American advocate into American institutions, the appropriate United States authorities should know.
