A Washington lobbying firm retained by Atiku Abubakar has claimed that the United States is already assessing a Nigeria after President Bola Tinubu, and that Tinubu cannot win the next presidential election without rigging.
Von Batten Montague York, L.C., which describes itself as an all Republican partner policy advisory and lobbying firm based in Washington, D.C., made the claim in a statement on its X account on Friday.
The firm said it was glad to announce that the United States was already assessing what it called a potential scenario after Tinubu, ahead of Nigeria’s forthcoming presidential election. In its opinion, it said, it had become clear to everyone in Washington that President Tinubu could not win that election unless undemocratic tactics, which it described as rigging, were employed by his government.
It said its objective was now to ensure that the United States communicated clearly to President Tinubu and his allies at the Independent National Electoral Commission that Washington was monitoring developments, and that there would be consequences for any actions that silenced the will of the Nigerian people and adversely affected United States interests in the region.
“Let us be clear: the United States is not taking sides. The next Nigerian president will be decided by the Nigerian people, and the Nigerian people alone,” the firm said.
The statement tagged President Donald Trump, the White House, the State Department, congressional foreign affairs committees and several international news organisations, including the BBC and the Associated Press.
The United States government has not confirmed the claim. The firm presented the assessment of a scenario after Tinubu as its own announcement, and it described the view that Tinubu could not win without rigging as its opinion.
Von Batten Montague York was engaged by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar under the United States Foreign Agents Registration Act. BusinessDay reported that the engagement, entered in March, was a twelve month contract reportedly valued at 1.2 million dollars, with an objective of countering narratives advanced by the Nigerian government in the United States.
The firm has issued a series of statements critical of the Tinubu administration in recent weeks. In September it said it had been cleared to proceed with a 36 million dollar federal lawsuit against President Tinubu and Ambassador Femi Fani Kayode in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, over alleged threats. It has also said the State Department is monitoring the Nigerian election process, and it has circulated records relating to a 1993 civil forfeiture case involving funds linked to an account in Tinubu’s name. Nigerian officials and allies of the president have rejected the firm’s claims.
The 2027 presidential election is expected to pit Tinubu, who is seeking a second term on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, against opposition figures including Atiku Abubakar.
By A.Ikechukwu
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