A Washington lobbying firm says its founder was offered three million dollars and a secret meeting in London by a high ranking person said to be tied to Nigerian President Bola Tinubu. The firm Von Batten Montague York posted the claim on 2 September. It says the money was meant to make Dr Karl Von Batten stop talking about old United States records that mention alleged heroin trafficking linked to Tinubu.
In a statement posted on September 2, the U.S. lobbying firm said the offer came a few days earlier from a highly placed individual whom the firm had been told was connected to President Tinubu.
According to the firm, the individual made the $3 million offer together with an invitation for Dr. Von Batten to attend a private meeting in London.
The firm said it believes the offer was intended to persuade Dr. Von Batten to end its campaign seeking records connected to allegations of heroin trafficking involving Tinubu.
Dr. Von Batten allegedly rejected the offer.
The firm said its founder immediately preserved copies of the communications surrounding the offer and then contacted members of the campaign of former Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar to establish what relationship the individual had with Tinubu.
According to Von Batten Montague York, a smear campaign against Dr. Von Batten began shortly after the offer was rejected.
The firm said it plans to provide the alleged $3 million offer and related communications to the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for review.
The move could bring the dispute into a new phase, as the firm is now seeking the involvement of U.S. law enforcement over what it describes as an attempt to interfere with its campaign.
The lobbying firm has been pursuing access to historical U.S. government records concerning allegations involving Tinubu and alleged heroin trafficking during the 1980s and 1990s.
It has repeatedly argued that the records deserve attention because of Tinubu’s position as Nigeria’s president and the importance of Nigeria to U.S. security interests in West Africa.
The latest allegation adds a financial dimension to the growing dispute. The claimed $3 million offer is presented by the firm as an effort to persuade its founder to stop pursuing the records.
The firm has not publicly identified the individual it says made the offer, but described the person as highly placed and said it had been informed that the individual was connected to Tinubu.
Von Batten Montague York also accused supporters of Tinubu of launching attacks against its founder after the offer was rejected.
The firm said it had preserved the communications and intended to hand them over to U.S. authorities so that officials could determine what happened and assess the matter.
The statement ended with a direct message to Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress and their associates, making clear that the firm says it has no intention of accepting the alleged offer or abandoning its campaign.
The latest development follows a series of increasingly aggressive statements by Von Batten Montague York concerning Tinubu.
The firm has previously claimed that it has been contacting members of Congress and senior congressional staff about the Freedom of Information Act case involving the historical U.S. records.
It has argued that the allegations are not simply a Nigerian political issue and could raise questions about U.S. national security, law enforcement cooperation, intelligence sharing and counternarcotics efforts.
The firm has also questioned whether Tinubu should continue to be viewed by Washington as a strategic partner or whether the allegations could create a growing national security concern for the United States.
The dispute comes as Tinubu continues to face renewed attention in Washington over the historical allegations and efforts to obtain additional U.S. government records.
For now, the most explosive new claim is the alleged $3 million offer to Dr. Von Batten.
Von Batten Montague York says the offer was rejected, the communications were preserved and the matter will be placed before U.S. authorities.
The firm says its campaign over the Tinubu records will continue.
