A Washington-based lobbying company, Von Batten-Montague-York L.C., has said it has begun circulating United States Department of Justice records relating to a decades-old civil forfeiture case involving President Bola Tinubu to officials of the Donald Trump administration and members of Congress.
The firm said the documents were being provided to administration officials, lawmakers and senior congressional aides as part of efforts to draw attention to allegations contained in filings made by US authorities during an investigation in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Von Batten-Montague-York was engaged in March 2026 under a $1.2 million, 12-month agreement linked to former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar. The contract covers lobbying, strategic advisory services, engagement with the US executive and legislative branches, and efforts to counter narratives promoted by the Nigerian government.
Announcing the development in a post on 𝕏, the firm claimed that some officials in Washington were previously unaware of the historical court records.
It said it had started sharing more than 60 pages of documents with members of the Trump administration and Congress.
“Following discussions with members of the @realDonaldTrump Administration, Congress, and senior congressional staff, we began providing more than 60 pages of @TheJusticeDept documents concerning the DOJ’s allegations of Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s alleged involvement in a heroin trafficking investigation spanning the late 1980s and early 1990s,” the firm wrote.
The lobbyist said it intended to ensure that court filings, an affidavit and subsequent judicial decisions relating to the case were brought to the attention of senior US officials.
The firm also circulated a document titled, “Background and Chronology of the 1993 U.S. Department of Justice Heroin-Proceeds Forfeiture Case and the 2023 FOIA Litigation Concerning Alleged Heroin Trafficking from Nigeria to the United States Involving Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Current President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
According to the chronology, US investigators examined the activities of a heroin distribution organisation operating in Chicago between 1988 and 1991.
The historical filings alleged that proceeds connected with the organisation were deposited in bank accounts owned or controlled by Tinubu.
The court case identified Tinubu, Adegboyega Mueez Akande and Abiodun Agbele in connection with the funds targeted by the US government.
The allegations contained in the forfeiture filings did not result in Tinubu’s criminal conviction. He has consistently denied involvement in criminal wrongdoing and was never charged with a criminal offence arising from the matter.
DOJ Alleged Funds Were Crime Proceeds
The lobbying firm’s document stated that Akande was described by investigators as a leader of the organisation and a longtime acquaintance of Tinubu.
It added that US authorities alleged Akande provided money used to open one of the accounts linked to Tinubu.
Agbele was described as an associate whom Tinubu reportedly said he met through Akande.
According to the federal filings, Agbele was arrested after allegedly selling heroin to an undercover law enforcement officer and later cooperated with investigators.
The US government subsequently filed a civil forfeiture action before the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in 1993, seeking the seizure of money it alleged represented proceeds of drug trafficking or funds involved in money laundering.
The proceedings were resolved through a negotiated civil forfeiture settlement under which $460,000 was forfeited to the United States government.
The matter was a civil action against the funds rather than a criminal prosecution or conviction of Tinubu.
US court records nevertheless showed that the government relied on information from federal agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service, Drug Enforcement Administration and Federal Bureau of Investigation, to argue that there was probable cause to believe that funds in certain accounts were connected with unlawful financial transactions.
The document also detailed efforts by journalist Aaron Greenspan to obtain federal records relating to the investigation.
Greenspan filed a Freedom of Information Act suit in 2023 against several US agencies.
In 2025, a US judge ruled that the FBI and DEA could not rely entirely on a blanket refusal to confirm or deny the existence of some of the requested records because the historical investigation had already been officially acknowledged.
The agencies were consequently directed to process relevant portions of the request under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.
Von Batten-Montague-York said the FOIA litigation remained ongoing.
The lobbying company said the chronology and related court decisions were being sent to selected committees in the US House of Representatives and Senate for what it described as “informational and oversight purposes.”
It linked the move to Nigeria’s strategic relationship with the United States and reports that Tinubu was seeking a meeting with Trump during the forthcoming United Nations General Assembly.
The Presidency had not responded to the lobbying firm’s latest claims as of the time of filing this report.
Tribunal Rejected Disqualification Argument
Tinubu’s US civil forfeiture featured prominently in the legal challenges filed after the 2023 presidential election.
Atiku and the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, argued that the forfeiture should have disqualified Tinubu from contesting the election.
The Presidential Election Petition Court, however, held that the petitioners failed to prove that Tinubu had been convicted of a criminal offence in the United States.
The tribunal said the evidence before it showed that the proceedings were civil in nature and did not establish that Tinubu provided false information to the Independent National Electoral Commission by failing to disclose the forfeiture.
