A Washington lobbying firm said on Monday it spent the day talking with senior officials in the President Donald Trump administration and members of Congress about Nigeria. The firm said its message was simple. It called President Bola Tinubu alleged heroin trafficking a burden on the United States and a threat to peace and stability in Nigeria and the wider region.
In its latest post the firm drew a sharp line between Tinubu and former Nigeria’s vice president Atiku Abubakar. It described Atiku as a statesman. It said that unlike Tinubu there is no United States government document that accuses Atiku of drug trafficking or any other crime. It said Nigerians are God fearing people who value life and family and that Atiku stands for those values.
The firm warned Washington not to repeat what it called mistakes of the Joe Biden years. It said those mistakes helped open the door to coups in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. Nigeria, it said, is too important for that kind of failure. For that reason the firm said the United States must do everything it can to stop Tinubu from rigging the coming presidential election. It said Nigerians deserve a free and fair and honest vote. It closed by saying hope is coming to Nigeria.
The same firm has spent months circulating old United States Department of Justice papers from a 1993 civil forfeiture case in Chicago. Those papers alleged that proceeds from a heroin network operating in the late 1980s and early 1990s moved through bank accounts the government said were owned or controlled by Tinubu. The records also named Adegboyega Mueez Akande and Abiodun Agbele. The firm has said it gave more than 60 pages of those documents to Trump officials, lawmakers, and senior congressional staff. It has also pointed to later FBI court filings that, in its reading, show Tinubu was the subject of a criminal drug investigation even though he was not convicted.
Tinubu has long denied the claims. His allies call them a recycled smear from a political rival. The 1993 action was a civil case over money, not a criminal conviction of Tinubu himself. No US court has found him guilty of trafficking heroin. The lobbying campaign is happening as Nigeria heads toward the 2027 presidential race, with Atiku positioning himself as a leading challenger.
The argument now sitting in front of Trump aides is political as much as legal. One camp says old American files make Tinubu a risk to US interests and to West African stability. The other says old civil money records are being turned into a weapon against a sitting African president. What Washington does with that brief may shape how America talks about Nigeria between now and election day.
