Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has dismissed fresh claims by United States-based political advisory firm, Von Batten-Montague-York, concerning President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and ongoing litigation over FBI and DEA records. Keyamo, reacting to a post by Von Batten-Montague-York on X, described the development as “Storm in a……
Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has dismissed fresh claims by United States-based political advisory firm, Von Batten-Montague-York, concerning President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and ongoing litigation over FBI and DEA records.
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 to have been exaggerated and unlikely to produce any significant outcome.
The latest exchange followed a filing by Dr Karl Von Batten, Managing Partner of Von Batten-Montague-York, at the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, in which he sought to draw the court’s attention to what he described as actions by Nigerian government officials against his advocacy over FBI and DEA records relating to Tinubu.
In a separate referral to the FBI, Von Batten also alleged that officials associated with the Nigerian government had engaged in conduct that he believed could warrant examination for possible “foreign-government harassment, interference, and transnational repression.”
However, the document stopped short of alleging that a federal crime had been established.
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Von Batten expressly stated in the referral that he was “not submitting this referral because I have independently concluded that a federal crime has occurred,” but was providing information and supporting material for US authorities to determine whether the conduct had any counterintelligence, foreign-influence, transnational-repression, harassment or national-security significance.
The latest development is linked to a broader legal dispute over access to historical FBI and DEA records concerning Tinubu.
Von Batten-Montague-York has made several claims about the contents of the records and their possible implications for the Nigerian President. The firm has also argued that public comments by Nigerian government officials could affect Tinubu’s privacy claims in the US litigation.
The firm previously made claims about references to sensitive law-enforcement material in FBI records, interpreting them as potentially linking Tinubu to a heroin-trafficking investigation.
However, such interpretations by the firm do not, on their own, establish that Tinubu participated in heroin trafficking or that he has been charged with a criminal offence.
The controversy also relates to a 1993 US civil forfeiture proceeding involving about $460,000 linked to accounts associated with Tinubu. The proceeding was civil in nature and did not result in a criminal conviction against him.
Von Batten has continued to pursue the release of records through the US legal process and has made further claims about what the documents could contain.
In its latest filing, the firm argued that the Nigerian Presidency’s public discussion of the records should be considered by the US court when assessing Tinubu’s claimed privacy interests.
Keyamo’s brief response appears to reject the significance attached to the claims, portraying the continuing controversy as a “storm in a teacup” and a “journey to nowhere.”
The allegations contained in the filings remain claims by Von Batten and have not, by themselves, been established as findings of criminal wrongdoing against Tinubu.
