Atiku vs Tinubu Presidency tensions flared on Thursday when the Presidency accused former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of undermining Nigeria’s sovereignty. Atiku’s Washington lobbyists submitted old US records on President Bola Tinubu to Donald Trump’s team. The exchange played out in Abuja and online as both camps traded sharp statements.
Atiku engaged Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C. in March under a $1.2 million 12-month contract. The firm has now shared more than 60 pages of Department of Justice documents with Trump administration officials, members of Congress and senior staff. Those papers cover a 1993 civil forfeiture case in the Northern District of Illinois that alleged funds linked to Tinubu between 1988 and 1991. About $460,000 was forfeited in a civil settlement with no criminal charges filed against the president. Special Adviser on Information and Strategy Bayo Onanuga led the Presidency’s response.
He told Nigerians the move was baffling.
“Reporting the President of Nigeria to another country’s leader is not only inappropriate but also undermines the nation’s dignity and independence.”
Onanuga reminded Atiku that the same matter was tested in the 2023 election petition and dismissed by the Supreme Court. He also pointed to Atiku’s own US history, including the William Jefferson bribery case and a 2010 Senate report that examined offshore transactions involving the former vice president and his then-wife Jennifer Douglas.
The Presidency further recalled the privatisation programme Atiku oversaw between 1999 and 2007. Officials said that exercise sold national assets cheaply to connected individuals and left thousands of workers without salaries or pensions. Tinubu, Onanuga stressed, remains focused on the Renewed Hope Agenda, stabilising the economy and attracting investment.
Atiku’s camp pushed back through Phrank Shaibu, his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication. Shaibu said the questions concern publicly available records about the occupant of the highest office. He rejected claims that the petitions target Nigeria itself. Elections, he argued, confer authority but do not end the public’s right to demand transparency.
Key facts in the current face-off stand out clearly:
- The lobbying contract is valued at $1.2 million over 12 months
- More than 60 pages of DOJ records have already been circulated
- The original US case settled in 1993 with a $460,000 forfeiture
- No criminal conviction was ever recorded against Tinubu
- Both men are already positioning for the 2027 presidential race
The exchange leaves one question hanging over Nigeria’s political landscape: will foreign court files from three decades ago decide the next presidential contest, or will voters demand answers that stay on Nigerian soil?
