By Gloria Drealomalicha
A Washington-based lobbying firm hired by former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has said President Bola Tinubu would face “embarrassment” in New York if he attends the United Nations General Assembly later this month.
Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C. made the claim in a post on X on Saturday while dismissing reports that there could be plans to arrest the Nigerian president during his visit to the United States.
The firm said there was no such plan but alleged that Mr Tinubu could face public scrutiny over allegations relating to his past.
“There is no plan to arrest Nigerian President Bola Tinubu (@officialABAT) over his alleged involvement in heroin smuggling if he attends the @UN General Assembly this month,” the firm said.
“Any claim to the contrary is untrue. What is true is that President Tinubu will be embarrassed in New York.”
The statement followed comments by Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Jimoh Ibrahim, who said Mr Tinubu would sit “very, very close” to US President Donald Trump at the UN General Assembly.
The lobbying firm also claimed that a proposed meeting between Mr Tinubu and President Trump would not take place.
It alleged that the FBI had previously linked Mr Tinubu to a criminal organisation involved in smuggling heroin from Nigeria to the United States during the 1980s and 1990s.
The firm further described Mr Tinubu as an “alleged heroin trafficker” and said it would continue lobbying the White House and Congress over the allegations.
Presidential spokespersons Bayo Onanuga and Daniel Bwala could not be reached for comment. They had also not responded to requests sent to their WhatsApp lines as of the time of filing this report.
The Tinubu administration has previously dismissed similar claims, accusing Mr Abubakar of being misled by what it described as a fraudulent Washington lobbyist, Karl-Marx Edward Okeke-Von Batten.
The administration has also suggested that allegations concerning Mr Tinubu’s past were being revived in the build-up to the 2027 presidential election.
The latest claims by the lobbying firm come amid heightened political activity ahead of the 2027 election and renewed attention on the Nigerian president’s planned international engagements.
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