The pro-government coalition called the lobbying disclosure a political move, days after a Washington firm hired by Atiku Abubakar began circulating US Justice Department records to Trump administration officials and Congress.
Working People United, a coalition describing itself as representing labour unions, professionals and traders, has dismissed a decision by a US lobbying firm hired by African Democratic Congress presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar to submit historical American forfeiture records concerning President Bola Tinubu to US officials.
In a statement signed by its national coordinator, Comrade Williams Eniredonana Akporeha, the group called the move “political desperation” and said Tinubu has never been convicted of a crime in the United States or elsewhere.
The Washington-based firm, Von Batten-Montague-York, said this week it had begun distributing more than 60 pages of Justice Department records to the Trump administration, members of Congress and congressional staff. The documents concern a 1993 civil forfeiture case, United States v. Funds in Account No. 263226700 et al., in which federal investigators examined an alleged heroin trafficking operation between Nigeria and Chicago. Tinubu was named in the proceedings, along with two other individuals. The firm was retained by Atiku in March under a reported 12-month, $1.2 million lobbying contract.
Atiku and former Labour Party candidate Peter Obi raised the forfeiture case in petitions challenging Tinubu’s 2023 election victory. Nigeria’s Presidential Election Petition Court dismissed the argument, ruling that the case was civil rather than criminal and that the petitioners had not proven Tinubu was convicted of any offence or had misled the electoral commission by not disclosing it. The Supreme Court later upheld Tinubu’s election.
WoPU also pointed to a July 6 letter from US President Donald Trump to Tinubu, in which Trump praised what he called Tinubu’s “decisive leadership” in confronting terrorism and violence against Christian communities in Nigeria and reaffirmed US security cooperation with Abuja. The letter was made public last week by presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga.
The group said the commendation showed the international standing Tinubu holds and urged Nigerians to disregard what it described as attempts by “serial electoral losers” to discredit the president.