Atiku camp redirects lobbyist row to Tinubu's US records, lobbying fees
Atiku Abubakar’s camp dismissed the Presidency’s focus on a US-based lobbyist, Karl Von Batten, saying the government should instead examine documents in the United States, including a civil forfeiture case involving $460,000 in an account bearing President Bola Tinubu’s name. Phrank Shaibu, Atiku’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, argued the lobbyist’s background is a distraction and noted that Atiku’s $1.2 million annual lobbying deal with Von Batten-Montague-York is publicly registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). He contrasted this with the Tinubu administration’s reported hiring of DCI Group at $750,000 per month—$4.5 million over six months, potentially rising to $9 million—and questioned why lobbying is criticized when involving the opposition but accepted when done by the government.
Shaibu urged the Presidency to prioritize issues affecting Nigerians—rising food, transportation, electricity costs, falling purchasing power, and insecurity—rather than political exchanges. He said Nigerians are more concerned about these daily pressures than debates over lobbyists’ personal histories or ancestry.
Given these lobbying expenses and the focus on documents, should Nigerians demand greater transparency on how public officials spend money on foreign lobbying, or push leaders to address everyday economic pressures?