A United States-based lobbying firm connected to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar says its founder was offered $3 million to halt a campaign highlighting allegations against President Bola Tinubu.
Von Batten-Montague-York stated on its X account on Wednesday that Dr. Karl Von Batten received the unsolicited offer a few days earlier, together with an invitation to a private meeting in London. The firm said the approach came from a highly placed individual it was told had links to Tinubu.
According to the firm, the money was meant to end its focus on what it called allegations tied to Tinubu’s alleged heroin-trafficking records. Von Batten rejected the offer, kept copies of the messages and contacted members of Atiku’s campaign to check the intermediary’s claimed connection to the president. The firm also said a smear campaign against its founder began soon after the rejection.
Von Batten-Montague-York said it intends to hand the communications and the alleged $3 million offer to the US Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for examination. It closed its statement with a direct message to Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress and their associates: “Thank you for the offer, but no thanks.”
The Presidency has rejected the claims. Sunday Dare, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communications, described Von Batten’s assertions as political speculation packaged as intelligence. He challenged those making the allegations to produce any highly classified report, name their sources or supply documentary proof. Dare said no intelligence document, named Western official or evidence of any exchange involving Nigerian secrets had been presented.
Dare stressed that Von Batten is a commercial lobbyist and founder of the firm, not a US government official or adviser to President Donald Trump. He pointed to publicly available filings under the US Foreign Agents Registration Act showing that Atiku engaged the same firm on a $1.2 million, 12-month retainer. Dare said the arrangement was designed to counter Nigerian government narratives and leverage historical US legal records ahead of the 2027 elections.
Neither the alleged $3 million offer nor the claim that the intermediary was connected to Tinubu has been independently verified. The firm’s assertions about heroin-trafficking records remain allegations that have not been established by any court or authority. The Presidency’s characterisation of Atiku’s contract with the firm forms part of the continuing political dispute, though Dare said it rests on the FARA records.
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