The Presidency has dismissed reports emanating from a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm concerning President Bola Tinubu as politically motivated, alleging that they were part of an attempt to influence Nigeria’s political landscape ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communications, Dr Sunday Dare, made the allegations in a statement in which he accused former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and a Washington-based lobbying firm, Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C., of packaging political claims as intelligence information.
Dare said the media campaign surrounding the firm was not an intelligence breakthrough but what he described as “a clinical demonstration of desperation.”
According to the presidential adviser, reports emanating from the United States were being presented in a manner capable of creating the impression that they reflected the position of the US government.
“The incendiary press releases being carefully churned out from Washington are public relations propaganda sheets passed off as the view of the U.S. Government. They are not,” Dare said.
He added: “Sane minds must categorically dismiss these reports as fabricated, politically motivated, and entirely unsupported by evidence.”
Dare said the reports contained no intelligence documents, named Western officials or evidence to support allegations involving Nigeria’s classified information or resources.
“The report presents no intelligence document, no named Western official, and no evidence of any exchange involving Nigeria’s secrets or resources,” he said.
“It is nothing more than political speculation packaged as classified information. We demand that they produce the so-called ‘highly classified intelligence report,’ identify their unnamed sources, and provide tangible evidence for their wild allegations.”
The presidential spokesman alleged that publicly available filings under the United States Foreign Agents Registration Act, FARA, showed that Atiku had contracted Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C., on a 12-month retainer reportedly valued at $1.2 million.
According to Dare, the arrangement was aimed at countering Nigerian government narratives and using historical US legal records for political advantage ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He alleged that the engagement was not intended to provide independent governance advice but to conduct what he described as a partisan political campaign.
“The explicit scope of this agreement is not to offer objective governance advisory, but to execute a targeted, partisan campaign designed to ‘counterbalance’ Nigerian government narratives and weaponize historical, legally resolved judicial archives for domestic political leverage ahead of the 2027 general elections,” Dare said.
The presidential aide also questioned the status and role of Dr Karl-Marx Edward Okeke-Von Batten, founder of the Washington-based firm, describing him as a commercial lobbyist rather than an official representative of the US government.
“The self-bestowed appellation of ‘Senior Government Advisor’ is a linguistic sleight of hand,” Dare said.
He maintained that statements credited to Okeke-Von Batten should not be interpreted as representing the position of the US government or President Donald Trump.
“Dr. Karl Von Batten’s comments represent solely the position of an individual associated with Atiku-linked political interests, not the U.S. government or President Trump,” he said.
Dare also dismissed suggestions linking President Tinubu’s trip to Europe with ongoing Freedom of Information Act proceedings in the United States.
He said the President was on a previously scheduled annual leave and insisted that there was no connection between the trip and the legal proceedings.
“This orchestrated distraction attempts to tie the President’s movements to foreign legal proceedings, but the facts are clear: President Tinubu is on a previously scheduled annual leave, and there is absolutely no connection between the President’s European trip and the ongoing U.S. FOIA proceedings,” he said.
The presidential spokesman said the US court case had been ongoing since 2023 and argued that the issues before the court concerned the protection of investigative techniques and confidential sources.
Dare referred to comments by lawyer Wole Afolabi, SAN, during a recent television programme concerning requests for the release of historical records held by US federal agencies.
He said efforts to withhold portions of the records were in line with US legal provisions designed to protect confidential investigative processes.
Dare argued that the matter should be allowed to run its course through the appropriate American legal institutions without political interference.
“Let the American judiciary and law enforcement agencies execute their statutory mandates without partisan interference, exactly as they have always done,” he said.
The presidential adviser also criticised the opposition’s approach to the 2027 elections, accusing it of focusing on controversies rather than presenting Nigerians with alternative policies and programmes.
According to him, the opposition had failed to provide what he described as credible economic, agricultural, industrial and structural development plans.
Dare accused opposition politicians of resorting to “muckraking, emotional manipulation, and ethnic polarization” rather than engaging in issue-based political debate.
He said the Tinubu administration, on the other hand, remained focused on fiscal reforms, infrastructure development and institutional reforms.
“President Bola Tinubu’s administration continues to lay the foundational blocks for sustainable national development through difficult fiscal discipline, infrastructural consolidation, and institutional security reforms,” Dare said.
He maintained that Nigeria’s political future would ultimately be determined by voters based on the performance and programmes of political leaders.
“True democratic validation is earned through the ballot box and tangible service delivery to the citizens at home, not through manufactured headlines bought and paid for in foreign currency,” he said.
Dare added that electoral mandates could not be won through foreign lobbying or publicity campaigns.
“Nigerians see through the fog of paid propaganda: an electoral mandate is won on the battleground of verifiable domestic performance, national vision, and tangible infrastructure, not through imported soundbites purchased with millions of dollars in search of an elusive political resurrection,” he said.
The statement concluded that Nigerians would ultimately judge political parties and leaders based on their records, policies and ability to deliver tangible improvements in the lives of citizens.
