A United States-based political advisory and lobbying firm, Von Batten-Montague-York, has alleged that the administration of Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu is misleading the world.
Von Batten-Montague-York made the allegation in a statement posted on its verified X handle on Friday.
This followed a statement released by the Nigerian Presidency on Thursday.
The Presidency had said that the ongoing Freedom of Information Act, FOIA, case involving records relating to President Tinubu before a United States federal court is a civil records-disclosure dispute and not a criminal case.
Responding, the US firm said, “The Nigerian Presidency’s attempt to mislead the world has opened the door for us to step in officially. We are preparing to seek leave from the US District Court for the District of Columbia to file an amicus curiae brief concerning President Tinubu’s asserted privacy interests.
“Pursuant to D.D.C. Local Civil Rule 7(o)(2), today we notified Plaintiff Aaron Greenspan, the Department of Justice (DOJ), and President Tinubu’s counsel. We are awaiting their responses before filing.
“Our argument is straightforward: the Nigerian Statehouse statement blunder does not automatically eliminate President Tinubu’s privacy protections, but when his own Presidency voluntarily places the records, litigation, and privacy claim into the international public debate through an official government statement, we believe it destroys the weight of his asserted privacy interest under Exemption 7(C).
“Nigerian President Tinubu cannot ask a federal court to protect his alleged heroin trafficking records on privacy grounds while simultaneously using the power of the Nigerian Presidency to publicly discuss those same records and state ‘obvious untruths’ about what the official Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and court records actually say.
“You cannot claim privacy before the Court and then blatantly misrepresent the records to the public. That might work in Nigeria; it does not work in the United States.”
Alleged drug trafficking: Tinubu Presidency ‘misleading’ the world – US firm