By TheDailyNewsHub
A United States-based political advisory and lobbying firm, Von Batten-Montague-York, has intensified its campaign over historical U.S. law-enforcement records concerning President Bola Tinubu, telling the Nigerian leader, “We are coming for you.”
The firm made the statement in a post on its verified X account while announcing that its founder, Dr Von Batten, had engaged members of the U.S. Congress and senior state officials during the Republican National Midterm Convention.
According to the firm, the discussions focused on allegations contained in records held by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) concerning a decades-old investigation involving Tinubu.
The firm alleged that the records relate to a criminal organisation that it says smuggled heroin from Nigeria into the United States during the 1980s and 1990s. It further alleged that proceeds from the operation were moved through U.S. financial institutions.
The firm named Virginia Representative John McGuire and Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales among the officials it said were briefed on the matter.
“We have a message for President Bola Tinubu and his enablers. We are coming for you,” the firm said, adding that it believed those who harmed Americans could not escape U.S. justice.
The latest statement is part of a broader campaign by Von Batten-Montague-York over access to U.S. government records concerning Tinubu.
At the centre of the dispute is Greenspan v. Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys et al., Case No. 1:23-cv-01816-BAH, a Freedom of Information Act case before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The case began after transparency activist Aaron Greenspan sought records from U.S. agencies relating to investigations and law-enforcement activities connected to Tinubu and other individuals. The FBI and DEA have sought to withhold or redact portions of the records under provisions of U.S. law dealing with privacy and law-enforcement information. Tinubu’s lawyers have also intervened in the case and argued against disclosure of records that identify him.
The dispute has recently taken another turn after Von Batten-Montague-York said its Motion for Leave to File Brief Amicus Curiae and Supplemental Notice of Evidentiary Exhibits were accepted and entered on the federal court docket.
An amicus curiae filing is a submission by someone who is not a direct party to a case but is seeking permission to provide arguments or information that may assist the court. The firm’s request to participate does not mean that the judge has accepted its allegations or agreed with its arguments.
The controversy also relates to a 1993 civil forfeiture proceeding in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Court documents show that the United States pursued the forfeiture of funds held in accounts associated with Tinubu.
Under a settlement approved by the court, $460,000 from an account held in Tinubu’s name was forfeited to the U.S. government. A subsequent decree described the money as representing proceeds of narcotics trafficking or property involved in financial transactions covered by U.S. federal statutes.
Importantly, the 1993 proceeding was a civil forfeiture case, not a criminal prosecution of Tinubu, and there was no criminal conviction against him arising from that case. The current FOIA litigation is likewise a dispute over access to government records, rather than a newly filed criminal drug-trafficking prosecution against the Nigerian president.
The latest intervention by Von Batten-Montague-York therefore represents an escalation in the public campaign surrounding the records, but it should not be interpreted as evidence that Tinubu has been newly charged with a drug offence in the United States.
The firm has nevertheless continued to press for disclosure of the records and has indicated that it intends to pursue the matter through the ongoing U.S. legal proceedings.
For now, there is no verified announcement of a new U.S. criminal charge against President Tinubu arising from the current litigation. The significant development is the firm’s renewed public campaign and its effort to place additional material before the federal court.