A United States (U.S) lobbying firm associated with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is preparing to present official U.S court documents detailing President Bola Tinubu’s 1993 drug-related forfeiture records to U.S President Donald Trump and members of the U.S Congress.
Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C, a Washington-based lobbying firm tied to Atiku, announced that it is compiling verified United States District Court documents detailing Tinubu’s $460,000 funds forfeiture records from 1993.
Recall that Von Batten-Montague-York was hired by Atiku, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), in March under a 12-month, $1.2 million lobbying contract.
It was gathered that the contract is to help strengthen Atiku’s reputational standing in the U.S, facilitate engagements with U.S officials and Congress, and counter what the contract describes as the Nigerian government’s lobbying narratives.
Taking to its official X account, the lobbying firm claimed that many within the U.S government were previously unaware of the DOJ’s allegations concerning Tinubu and that it intended to ensure that the complete collection of DOJ court filings, a supporting affidavit, and related federal court decisions are brought to Trump’s attention.
“Following discussions with members of the @realDonaldTrump Administration, Congress, and senior congressional staff, we began providing more than 60 pages of @TheJusticeDept documents concerning the DOJ’s allegations of Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s (@officialABAT) alleged involvement in a heroin trafficking investigation spanning the late 1980s and early 1990s,” the firm wrote.
The firm made public a document titled “Background and Chronology of the 1993 U.S. Department of Justice Heroin-Proceeds Forfeiture Case and the 2023 FOIA Litigation Concerning Alleged Heroin Trafficking from Nigeria to the United States Involving Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the current President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.
According to the document circulated by Von Batten’s firm, the U.S Department of Justice held that a Nigeria-based heroin trafficking organisation imported white heroin into the United States and transported it from Nigeria to Chicago, where it was distributed through the organisation’s members and associates.
The individuals identified in the government’s allegations, in United States v. Funds in Account No. 263226700 et al., No. 93 C 4483, were Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Adegboyega Mueez Akande, and Abiodun Agbele.
The document stated that between 1988 and 1991, federal investigators looked into a heroin trafficking organisation operating in the United States, and that the government stated proceeds from the organisation were deposited into bank accounts in the United States owned and controlled by Tinubu.
Tinubu was alleged to have opened multiple bank accounts that he owned and controlled, used to receive and transfer funds alleged to be proceeds of heroin trafficking. The document described Akande as a longtime acquaintance of Tinubu whom the DOJ alleged was the leader of the trafficking organisation, and who the government said provided the funds used by Tinubu to open one of the accounts.
The document described Agbele as an associate whom Tinubu said he met through Akande, and that Tinubu admitted knowing Agbele and associating with him in both Nigeria and the United States.
The DOJ alleged Agbele sold heroin for the organisation before being arrested while selling heroin to an undercover law enforcement officer, and that he later cooperated with federal investigators.
The document stated that the DOJ filed the forfeiture case in 1993 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, seeking forfeiture of funds which they termed proceeds of heroin trafficking or property involved in money laundering.
The DOJ went on to seize the funds identified in the complaint, and the matter concluded through a negotiated civil forfeiture settlement, under which a portion of the funds was forfeited to the United States.
The document further traced subsequent efforts to obtain records relating to the case. It said journalist Aaron Greenspan filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit in 2023 seeking records from multiple federal agencies relating to the historical investigation.
According to the chronology, a U.S district court for the District of Columbia ruled in 2025 that certain federal agencies, including the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), could not rely on a blanket refusal to confirm or deny the existence of responsive records for portions of the FOIA request and ordered them to process responsive records in accordance with the FOIA.
The chronology said the litigation remains ongoing. It also stated that, following discussions with members of the White House and senior congressional staff, the chronology, court records and FOIA decisions were being provided to several House and Senate committees “for informational and oversight purposes” in light of Nigeria’s strategic relationship with the United States and reports that Tinubu is seeking a meeting with Trump during the upcoming United Nations General Assembly.
Pan-Atlantic Kompass also reports that this development comes years after the issue of Tinubu’s U.S forfeiture records came into light in Nigeria.
The issue featured prominently in litigation arising from the 2023 presidential election. Peter Obi, former presidential candidate of the Labour Party, and Atiku Abubakar of the PDP argued before the presidential election petition court (PEPC) that Tinubu ought to have been disqualified over the 1993 civil forfeiture of $460,000 in the United States.
However, in its judgment, the PEPC held that the petitioners failed to establish that Tinubu had been convicted of any criminal offence in the United States.
The court also held that the forfeiture proceedings were civil in nature and that the evidence before it did not prove that Tinubu submitted false information to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by failing to disclose the forfeiture.
