Atiku’s US Lobbyist Refers Keyamo, Tinubu’s Aides To FBI Over Alleged Coordinated Campaign Against Him
Atiku’s US Lobbyist Refers Keyamo, Tinubu’s Aides To FBI Over Alleged Coordinated Campaign Against Him
Von Batten-Montague York
The second is a referral to the FBI’s Washington Field Office, also dated September 5, styled as an “Information Referral Concerning Potential Foreign-Government Harassment, Interference, and Transnational Repression.”
Von Batten-Montague-York, the Washington lobbying firm retained by African Democratic Congress presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, has accused Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo and two senior aides to President Bola Tinubu of mounting a “planned and coordinated” campaign against its managing partner, Dr Karl Von Batten, and said it is referring the matter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
In a post on X accompanying court and FBI documents, the firm named Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President Sunday Dare, and Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo as participants in what it described as an effort to disrupt its “First Amendment-protected US advocacy and petitioning activities” in support of disclosure of FBI and DEA records concerning Tinubu’s “alleged drug-trafficking past.”
“The Nigerian Presidency loves to dig itself into a hole, so we are going to help them,” the firm said, adding that it was preparing two separate actions in response.
The first is a supplemental filing to the US District Court for the District of Columbia, submitted on September 5, 2026, in Greenspan v. Executive Office for US Attorneys, the FOIA suit before Judge Beryl A. Howell over the FBI and DEA records naming Tinubu.
Von Batten, appearing pro se, argues that the Nigerian Presidency’s own September 3 Statehouse Statement, which discussed the records, the 399-page production, and the FOIA exemptions Tinubu has invoked, undermines Tinubu’s claim to the personal-privacy protection he is asserting under Exemption 7(C) of the FOIA. “You cannot deploy the machinery of your government in the court of public opinion and then run into a US federal court demanding privacy,” the firm said.
The second is a referral to the FBI’s Washington Field Office, also dated September 5, styled as an “Information Referral Concerning Potential Foreign-Government Harassment, Interference, and Transnational Repression.”
Von
In it, Von Batten asks the Bureau to assess whether the alleged pattern of conduct by Nigerian officials carries “counterintelligence, foreign-influence, transnational-repression, harassment, interference, or other national-security significance under United States law,” while stating explicitly that he is not alleging a completed federal crime.
The firm’s X post said the referral would also cover “reported contacts with the White House” concerning Von Batten’s appointment to a US presidential commission.
The firm tagged a long list of US officials and lawmakers in its post, including President Donald Trump, Vice-President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the State Department, the Justice Department, the FBI and its director, and members of the House and Senate foreign affairs and judiciary committees.
Von Batten-Montague-York is retained by Atiku Abubakar under a Foreign Agents Registration Act contract reported at $1.2 million annually.
The firm’s latest filings follow a September 3 statement from the Nigerian Presidency, in which Onanuga said the FOIA case was “a civil records-disclosure dispute” and not a criminal matter, and said Von Batten was not a party to the suit.
