You Lack the Energy, Evidence for Battle Over Tinubu’s US Drug Case – Atiku’s Camp Tells Presidency

The camp of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has fired back at the Presidency over its response to renewed controversy surrounding President Bola Tinubu’s decades-old civil forfeiture case in the United States, saying the government lacks both the evidence and the energy to sustain the debate.

Atiku’s Special Adviser on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, made the remarks in a post on X on Friday while responding to Presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga.

Addressing Onanuga directly, Shaibu challenged the Presidency to release documents instead of issuing public statements.

He wrote, “Good morning, @aonanuga1956. You know I have too much respect for my elders to put them through unnecessary stress. So, abeg, kindly advise Baba to just publish the evidence everyone is asking for. It will save you from having to explain what documents can explain better.”

He added, “With all due respect, this one is not a war of adjectives. It’s a contest of evidence. And, sir… I’m not sure you have the energy for the battle ahead.”

Shaibu’s comments came a day after the Presidency criticised Atiku over reports that he engaged a United States lobbying firm to draw the attention of President Donald Trump and the US State Department to Tinubu’s 1993 civil forfeiture case.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Onanuga accused Atiku of spending $1.2 million on American lobbyists to revive a matter he said had long been settled. He described the move as an attempt to internationalise Nigeria’s domestic politics and undermine the country’s sovereignty.

“It is baffling and disappointing that someone who has sought the presidency for over three decades now resorts to reporting the President of Nigeria to US President Donald Trump and members of the US Congress,” Onanuga said.

According to the presidential spokesman, the civil forfeiture issue “was resolved over 30 years ago in the United States and has been thoroughly litigated, explained, and rendered moot by the electoral mandates conferred on President Bola Tinubu by the people of Lagos and Nigeria at large.”

Onanuga also argued that Nigeria is a sovereign nation and that reporting its president to a foreign leader was inappropriate. He further criticised Atiku’s past public record, alleging that the former vice president had his own legal issues in the United States and declaring, “Indeed, if Atiku Abubakar were Chinese, he would be rotting away in jail for his crimes against the Nigerian people.”

The Presidency maintained that Tinubu remained focused on governance and would not be distracted by what it described as Atiku’s political tactics.

The exchange followed claims made earlier by Atiku’s media aide, Paul Ibe, who said more than 60 pages of United States Department of Justice documents relating to allegations of heroin trafficking investigations and the forfeiture of $460,000 involving Tinubu had been brought to the attention of President Trump through Washington-based lobbying firm Von Batten-Montague-York.

While Ibe did not provide evidence that Trump had personally received the documents or acted on them, the lobbying firm had earlier confirmed that it was distributing court filings, Department of Justice records, affidavits and judicial decisions relating to Tinubu’s civil forfeiture case to officials in the Trump administration and members of the US Congress under a lobbying agreement linked to Atiku.

Tinubu’s civil forfeiture records became a major issue after the 2023 presidential election when Atiku and Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi argued before the Presidential Election Petition Court that the proceedings should have disqualified Tinubu from contesting the election. However, the tribunal ruled that the forfeiture proceedings were civil in nature, not a criminal conviction, and dismissed the argument.