• U.S. advocate drags senior govt officials as Keyamo dismisses fresh allegations

Nigeria’s elder statesmen and respected voices of conscience cannot continue to look away while serious questions surrounding the integrity and international reputation of the nation’s President remain unresolved, the President, Yoruba Ronu Leadership Forum, Akin Malaolu, stated yesterday.

Meanwhile, United States (U.S.)-based advocate, Dr Von Batten, is accusing senior Nigerian government officials of escalating a campaign against him, as a fresh twist is introduced in the alleged drug case involving President Bola Tinubu.

But Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, dismissed fresh claims by a United States-based political advisory firm, Von Batten-Montague-York, concerning the President.

Malaolu stated: “The FBI has confirmed in court filings that its records concern a criminal investigation involving drug-trafficking offences and that Tinubu was the subject of an investigation.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo was President when Tinubu served as Governor of Lagos State. Whatever may have been known or investigated at the time, Nigerians are entitled to ask whether the Federal Government did everything within its powers to properly establish the facts.

“Today, amid reports of political alignments involving the former President vis-à-vis his speculated support for Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid, Obasanjo’s silence on these troubling developments inevitably raises questions about whether political considerations are being allowed to compete with principle.”

He also dragged Emeka Anyaoku, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd), Prof. Wole Soyinka, former President Goodluck Jonathan and other respected Nigerians who have repeatedly spoken out when they believed that the country’s democracy, institutions or reputation were at stake, into the fray.

He charged the elder statesmen to demand that the truth surrounding the U.S. investigations and the records being litigated in American courts be brought to light to the fullest extent permitted by law.
Von Batten alleged that the latest offensive now involves presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President, Sunday Dare, and Keyamo.

He claimed that the officials’ actions were part of a coordinated effort to frustrate his advocacy and legal activities in the U.S., particularly his campaign to disclose records concerning Tinubu.

According to him, he is preparing to submit supplemental evidence to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, detailing recent developments in the dispute.

He argued that Tinubu cannot simultaneously seek privacy protection over investigative records while his Presidency, advisers and cabinet members publicly engage in a campaign over the very records whose disclosure is being challenged.

He said: “You cannot deploy the machinery of your government in the court of public opinion and then run into a U.S. federal court demanding privacy.

The advocate also disclosed plans to report a broader pattern of conduct to the FBI for independent review of the laws guiding privacy in the country.

Keyamo, reacting to a post by Von Batten-Montague-York on X, described the development as “Storm in a teacup; journey to nowhere.”

The expression suggests that Keyamo considers the controversy exaggerated and unlikely to yield any significant outcome.

Keyamo’s brief response appears to reject the significance attached to the claims.