The Presidency has criticised former Vice President Atiku Abubakar over reports that he engaged a United States lobbying firm to petition President Donald Trump and the US State Department over President Bola Tinubu’s decades-old civil forfeiture case.
According to the government, “if Atiku Abubakar were Chinese, he would be rotting away in jail.”
Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, made the remarks in a statement issued on Thursday, accusing Atiku of spending $1.2 million on American lobbyists to revive a matter the Presidency said had long been settled. Onanuga described the move as an attempt to externalise Nigeria’s domestic politics and undermine the country’s sovereignty.
According to him, Atiku’s lobbying group submitted petitions to President Trump and the US State Department concerning Tinubu’s 1993 civil forfeiture case, despite there being no criminal conviction against the Nigerian leader.
“It is baffling and disappointing that someone who has sought the presidency for over three decades now resorts to reporting the President of Nigeria to US President Donald Trump and members of the US Congress,” Onanuga said.
He added, “This issue was resolved over 30 years ago in the United States and has been thoroughly litigated, explained, and rendered moot by the electoral mandates conferred on President Bola Tinubu by the people of Lagos and Nigeria at large. Reviving this matter today is an affront to the intelligence of Nigerians and an attempt to rewrite history for personal gain.”
The presidential spokesman argued that Nigeria is a sovereign nation and that reporting its president to a foreign leader was inappropriate.
“It is important to remind Atiku and his associates that Nigeria is a sovereign nation, not a satellite of any foreign power. Reporting the President of Nigeria to another country’s leader is not only inappropriate but also undermines the nation’s dignity and independence,” he stated.
Onanuga further alleged that Atiku should explain his own legal history in the United States, claiming the former vice president featured prominently in the William Jefferson bribery scandal and was one of the subjects of a 2010 US Senate investigation into foreign corruption.
He also criticised Atiku’s record during the privatisation programme under the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, saying, “A man with such a dismal record as a public servant certainly has no business asking for our votes. Indeed, if Atiku Abubakar were Chinese, he would be rotting away in jail for his crimes against the Nigerian people.”
The statement also declared that President Tinubu remained focused on governance and would not be distracted by what it described as Atiku’s political tactics.
“President Tinubu is unfazed by Atiku’s theatrics as he remains focused on his Renewed Hope Agenda, stabilising the economy, attracting investments, securing the nation, and restoring Nigeria’s standing in the world. He is not distracted by political actors, perennial losers like Atiku, who now seek validation abroad,” Onanuga said.
The Presidency’s response followed claims made on Wednesday by Atiku’s media aide, Paul Ibe, who said that President Trump had been made aware of court documents relating to Tinubu’s alleged past legal records in the United States.
Ibe claimed that more than 60 pages of US Department of Justice documents connected to allegations of heroin trafficking investigations and the forfeiture of $460,000 had been brought to Trump’s attention through Washington-based lobbying firm Von Batten-Montague-York.
“Finally, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s @officialABAT 60-page DOJ files on heroine trafficking and forfeiture of $460,000 has been brought to the attention of @realDonaldTrump courtesy of a US lobbyist firm, @batten_von. Manuel Noriega on my mind. Nigerians deserve to know the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The best is being saved for last,” Ibe wrote on X.
However, he did not provide documentary evidence that Trump had personally been briefed on the matter or indicate that the US administration had taken any action.
The lobbying firm had earlier confirmed that it was distributing more than 60 pages of DOJ records, court filings, affidavits and judicial decisions relating to Tinubu’s civil forfeiture case to officials in the Trump administration and members of the US Congress. According to reports, the firm was engaged in March 2026 under a one-year lobbying agreement linked to Atiku Abubakar.
Tinubu’s civil forfeiture records became a major issue after the 2023 presidential election when Atiku Abubakar and Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi argued before the Presidential Election Petition Court that the proceedings should have disqualified Tinubu from contesting the election.
The tribunal rejected the argument, ruling that the forfeiture proceedings were civil in nature and did not amount to a criminal conviction. It also held that there was insufficient evidence to establish that Tinubu submitted false information to the Independent National Electoral Commission by failing to disclose the proceedings.
