…dismisses report as false, lacking merit
The Presidency has described former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s alleged engagement of a United States lobbying firm on a $1.2 million retainer as a clinical demonstration of desperation, dismissing recent reports emanating from the firm as false, unverified, and lacking substantive merit.
Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Public Communication and Orientation, Sunday Dare, stated this in a rejoinder titled, “Peddling Political Speculation as Classified Information: Atiku’s $1.2 million Washington Lobbying gamble exposed.” Dare rebuffed claims in recent media reports linked to the Washington, D.C.-based advisory firm, clarifying that they represent paid propaganda rather than the official stance of the United States government or President Donald Trump.
According to Dare, publicly available filings under the United States Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) reveal that the opposition figure contracted the advisory firm, Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C., for $1.2 million over a 12-month period to push anti-government narratives ahead of the 2027 general elections.
“The coordinated media blitz orchestrated around a Washington, D.C. advisory firm is not an intelligence breakthrough; it is a clinical demonstration of desperation.”
“The report presents no intelligence document, no named Western official, and no evidence of any exchange involving Nigeria’s secrets or resources. It is nothing more than political speculation packaged as classified information,” Dare said.
Challenging the opposition to substantiate the claims with verifiable facts, the presidential aide demanded that those behind the publication present the alleged intelligence dossier and name their anonymous sources.
Dare also dismissed attempts to frame the firm’s principal, Dr. Karl-Marx Edward Okeke-Von Batten, as an independent geopolitical authority, stating that his assertions reflect only the interests of his paid clients.
He also refuted claims linking President Tinubu’s current trip to Europe to Freedom of Information Act proceedings in the United States, clarifying that the President is simply observing a pre-scheduled annual leave.
Dare criticized Atiku for expending substantial financial resources on foreign smear campaigns rather than articulating coherent policy solutions to national challenges.
“When a political camp invests millions not into building grassroots infrastructure, agricultural masterplans, or industrial blueprints, but into hiring foreign mouthpieces to manufacture fictitious crises, they confirm their detachment from the everyday realities of ordinary Nigerians,” Dare stated, maintaining that the 2027 elections will be decided by Nigerian voters based on performance and policy alternatives, not foreign-backed smear campaigns.