A US-based political advisory and lobbying firm, Von Batten-Montague-York, has accused the administration of President Bola Tinubu of allegedly misleading the public over a legal dispute involving records connected to the Nigerian president.
The firm made the allegation in a statement shared on its verified X account on Friday, following a statement issued by the Nigerian Presidency a day earlier.
The Presidency had described an ongoing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case before a US federal court as a civil dispute over access to records, stressing that it was not a criminal case.
Reacting to the clarification, the US firm said it was preparing to seek permission from the US District Court for the District of Columbia to submit an amicus curiae brief concerning Tinubu’s claimed privacy interests.
The firm said it had notified the plaintiff, Aaron Greenspan, the US Department of Justice and Tinubu’s legal representatives, and was waiting for their responses before proceeding.
According to the firm, the Presidency’s decision to publicly address the records and privacy claims had changed the context in which Tinubu’s privacy protections were being considered.
It further alleged that the Presidency’s public statements contradicted information contained in records attributed to US agencies and court documents.
The firm argued that Tinubu could not simultaneously rely on privacy protections before a US court while publicly discussing the same records through an official government statement.
The allegations by the lobbying firm have not been independently established in the report.
