A Washington lobbying firm paid by former Nigerian vice president Atiku Abubakar says an official Statehouse statement from President Bola Tinubus aides has given it a new opening in a United States records case.
Von Batten Montague York told parties in the District of Columbia lawsuit that it plans to ask Judge Beryl Howell for leave to file a friend of the court brief. The firm notified plaintiff Aaron Greenspan the Justice Department and Tinubus lawyers under local court rules and said it was waiting for their replies before filing.
The firms argument is that Tinubu cannot lean on personal privacy under Freedom of Information Act Exemption 7C while his own presidency publishes a government statement that discusses the same FBI and DEA files and describes what they supposedly show. The firm says an official statement does not wipe out privacy by itself but that putting the records the lawsuit and the privacy claim into worldwide debate weakens the weight of that claim in an American courtroom.
The presidency statement issued by Special Adviser Bayo Onanuga on 3 September 2026 said the matter is a civil records disclosure fight not a criminal case and that the court has not found Tinubu guilty of any crime. It said neither Atiku nor Karl Von Batten is a party to the suit. It traced the case to 2022 FOIA requests by Aaron Greenspan after agencies withheld records or refused to confirm or deny them. Greenspan then filed Civil Action No. 23 1816 in 2023. The court let Tinubu join as an intervenor.
Onanuga said several agencies won summary judgment and left the case after using a Glomar stance meaning they would neither confirm nor deny an investigation. The FBI and DEA later produced 399 pages with redactions. The government cited grand jury secrecy pen register law attorney work product law enforcement files personal privacy and protection of sources and methods. Tinubu also asserted Exemption 7C. The plaintiff has until 11 September 2026 to reply and the FBI DEA and intervenor have until 18 September 2026 to answer. The statement also pointed to a 4 February 2003 letter from the American Consulate in Lagos to then Inspector General Tafa Balogun saying an FBI records check found no criminal arrest records wants or warrants for then Governor Tinubu.
The lobbying firm rejects that framing. It has told followers that an FBI court paper asked the judge not to release highly sensitive wire tap recordings that respond to Tinubu related requests. It says the bureau wrote that those wire tap records were compiled while investigating several people for heroin trafficking crimes. The firm reads that language as placing Tinubu on tape tied to that probe. The FBI invoked Exemption 3 and Title Three wire tap law to hide targets and intercept content. The firm notes the bureau also wrote that privacy concerns usually fade after a person dies and says it believes Tinubu is the only targeted person from that old case who is still alive.
The firm has circulated 1993 civil forfeiture papers from a heroin proceeds case that named Tinubu Adegboyega Mueez Akande and Abiodun Agbele. It has briefed Trump administration officials and lawmakers and says a private meeting between Tinubu and President Trump at the United Nations gathering will not happen.
On 3 September the firm said Von Batten received an unsolicited three million dollar offer and an invitation to a confidential London meeting from a highly placed person it was told was tied to Tinubu. The messages used disappearing chats. The firm said it refused saved screenshots and reported the contacts to the Justice Department. It later named Onanuga Sunday Dare and Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo in a 5 September information referral to the FBI Washington Field Office about alleged foreign government harassment of its First Amendment advocacy. The firm said it was not claiming a finished American crime. Keyamo called the row a storm in a teacup and a journey to nowhere. The firm answered that a cabinet minister would not bother with a small American shop if the fight were empty and said senior Nigerian officials were rushing to protect an alleged drug trafficker president.
A side clash broke out over Von Battens unpaid seat on the Commission on Presidential Scholars. Nigerian officials first disputed the appointment then noted it is unpaid and carries no policymaking power after the White House confirmed it. The firm said it deleted an announcement after White House staff complained that Nigerian officials kept calling. The firm has also alleged that an APC linked person gave the EFCC fourteen days to arrest Atiku and that Tinubu is working to tilt the 2027 vote through INEC the courts and law enforcement.
The court has not ordered the tapes released and has not ruled on the friend of the court request. The presidency still calls the case a file fight not a trial. The lobbyists still call the old investigation and the new public statement enough reason for Washington to keep the pressure on. The next filings in mid September will show whether Judge Howell treats the Statehouse statement as a reason to give privacy less weight or as political noise outside the record.
