Tinubu FBI Files: Atiku’s US Lobbying Strategy Under Fire as Showunmi, Reps Warn of Damage to Nigeria
Tinubu FBI Files: Atiku’s US Lobbying Strategy Under Fire as Showunmi, Reps Warn of Damage to Nigeria
By Akin Alade
The political battle ahead of Nigeria’s 2027 presidential election has taken a dramatic international dimension, with growing concerns that efforts to use United States records linked to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as a campaign weapon could inflict wider reputational damage on Nigeria rather than merely weaken the President.
Former spokesman and political associate of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Otunba Segun Showunmi, has joined the debate, questioning the political wisdom of an opposition strategy that appears increasingly centred on allegations and historical United States records concerning Tinubu.
His intervention comes as Deputy Spokesperson of the House of Representatives, Philip Agbese, warned that taking Nigeria’s domestic political rivalry into foreign capitals could have consequences for millions of Nigerians who travel, study, work and conduct business overseas.
At the centre of the controversy is a Washington-based lobbying firm linked to Atiku and the renewed attention surrounding records being sought from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other United States agencies.
The Presidency has alleged that publicly available Foreign Agents Registration Act filings show that Atiku engaged Washington-based Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C. on a 12-month contract reportedly worth $1.2 million. The Presidency maintains that statements from the lobbying firm should not be confused with the official position of the United States government.
The dispute has intensified following developments in an ongoing Freedom of Information Act case in the United States concerning historical law-enforcement records related to Tinubu. While recent court filings have renewed attention on an investigation dating to the early 1990s, the records being discussed do not, by themselves, establish that Tinubu was convicted of a criminal offence.
Showunmi Questions Atiku Camp’s Political Calculation
Showunmi’s intervention is particularly significant because of his previous association with Atiku.
He questioned why a former Vice President would pursue a political strategy capable of affecting Nigeria’s international reputation, arguing that there must be limits to how far politicians are prepared to go in their quest for power.
Showunmi also raised a striking political argument: that making alleged corruption and integrity issues the centrepiece of the 2027 presidential contest may not necessarily benefit Atiku.
According to him, such a campaign could instead create an unintended advantage for Peter Obi, should the former Anambra State governor be on the presidential ballot.
“When the name of your lobbyist is Ikemefuna Okeke, you have to realise just how not so smart you are, especially when a Peter Obi is on the ballot,” Showunmi argued.
He maintained that an anti-corruption-centred campaign could politically favour Obi more than Atiku, particularly because voters would inevitably examine the records and controversies surrounding every major candidate.
For Showunmi, opposition strategists may therefore be creating a political weapon whose eventual beneficiary could be different from the person financing or promoting the campaign.
He further criticised what he considered an attempt to outsource political strategy, warning that politicians must consider the broader consequences of their actions beyond immediate electoral calculations.
Nigeria’s Reputation Should Not Become 2027 Collateral Damage — Agbese
Agbese separately warned that Nigeria’s international reputation should not be sacrificed on the altar of the 2027 presidential contest.
The lawmaker acknowledged the democratic right of opposition politicians to scrutinise Tinubu, challenge his policies and question his suitability for another term.
However, he argued that there should be a distinction between legitimate opposition and campaigns that could portray Nigeria negatively before foreign governments and institutions.
According to Agbese, repeatedly presenting Nigeria’s leadership to the international community through allegations of criminality could have consequences extending beyond Tinubu.
Such perceptions, he warned, could potentially affect Nigerian students seeking admission overseas, professionals pursuing international employment, entrepreneurs searching for foreign partners and citizens dealing with immigration authorities.
His position is that whoever emerges victorious in 2027 will still inherit Nigeria and therefore political actors must protect the country’s long-term interests even while fighting fiercely for power.
Presidency Questions Washington Lobbying Campaign
The Presidency has also challenged the credibility and motivation behind the Washington lobbying campaign.
Presidential media adviser Sunday Dare accused Atiku’s camp of seeking foreign validation for a domestic political struggle, arguing that comments attributed to the lobbying firm should not be portrayed as the position of the American government.
Dare identified the firm’s founder as Dr Karl-Marx Edward Okeke-Von Batten, who has also been publicly identified by other names including Ikemefuna Okeke and Karl Von Batten.
The Presidency insists that he is a commercial lobbyist rather than an official spokesman for the US government.
Atiku’s camp, however, has rejected the Presidency’s attempt to focus attention on the lobbyist, maintaining that the substantive questions surrounding Tinubu’s historical US records deserve answers.
That disagreement has effectively opened another major front in the battle for 2027.
A Strategy That Could Backfire?
Beyond the controversy surrounding Tinubu, Showunmi’s intervention raises a potentially important question for opposition politics: Who actually benefits if integrity and corruption become the defining issues of the 2027 presidential campaign?
If the contest eventually features Tinubu, Atiku and Obi or other major opposition candidates, every contender could face renewed scrutiny of his public record, financial history, associates and previous years in government.
Consequently, a strategy originally designed to weaken Tinubu could force voters to undertake a wider comparison of all presidential candidates.
That possibility appears to underpin Showunmi’s warning that those promoting the strategy may not have adequately considered its political consequences.
For Agbese, however, an even bigger issue is at stake—the reputation of Nigeria itself.
As the 2027 political temperature rises, the emerging argument is no longer simply whether Tinubu should answer questions surrounding historical US records.
It is also whether Nigerian politicians should deliberately internationalise domestic electoral battles to the point where the country’s reputation becomes part of the ammunition.
The coming months may determine whether the Washington lobbying controversy becomes a decisive weapon against Tinubu—or a political gamble that ultimately produces unintended consequences for Atiku, the opposition and Nigeria’s image abroad.
