Retired American mental health counsellor Jeffrey Guterman has said that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s lobbying campaign in the United States over President Bola Tinubu’s alleged past US forfeiture case is unlikely to prevent Tinubu from winning the 2027 presidential election.
Guterman made the remarks on Thursday via his X account in response to reports that Washington-based lobbying firm Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C., hired by Atiku, had begun distributing documents related to Tinubu’s alleged 1993 US civil forfeiture case to officials in President Donald Trump’s administration, members of Congress and congressional staff.
The lobbying firm reportedly said it was sharing records from the US Department of Justice concerning allegations linked to a civil forfeiture proceeding involving funds associated with Tinubu. Atiku is said to have retained the firm in March under a 12-month contract worth $1.2 million to conduct advocacy, diplomatic outreach and present his views on Nigeria–US relations.
Reacting to the development, Guterman argued that the lobbying effort would have little influence on Nigeria’s next presidential election.
“Let’s be honest with ourselves. The U.S. lobbying effort to reveal Nigeria President Tinubu’s drug trafficking will do nothing. He will probably win in 2027 due to propaganda news on Tinubu.
“I affirm that Tinubu will win in 2027 unless on election day rigging and violence, like there was in 2023, is stopped,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, Atiku’s media aide, Paul Ibe, claimed that President Trump had been made aware of court documents relating to Tinubu’s past legal records in the United States.
According to Ibe, a 60-page US Department of Justice file concerning allegations of heroin trafficking and the forfeiture of $460,000 had been presented to the US administration through the lobbying firm. He argued that Nigerians deserve full disclosure of the matter.
However, former senator Shehu Sani criticised Atiku’s decision to engage a US lobbying firm to circulate the documents.
Sani described the move as unpatriotic, warning that involving foreign lobby groups against Nigeria’s President could harm the country’s international image, increase distrust of Nigerians abroad and potentially expose the country to sanctions or stricter visa measures.
He maintained that political disagreements and efforts to change leadership should be pursued through Nigeria’s democratic institutions rather than by seeking foreign intervention.
Context: The allegations surrounding Tinubu’s 1993 US civil forfeiture case have remained a subject of political debate for years. Tinubu has consistently denied wrongdoing, and no US criminal conviction has resulted from the civil forfeiture proceedings. The issue is expected to remain part of the political discourse ahead of the 2027 general election.
