The Presidency has criticised former Vice President Atiku Abubakar over reports that a U.S.-based lobbying team linked to him submitted petitions to President Donald Trump, the U.S. State Department and members of Congress regarding President Bola Tinubu's 1993 civil forfeiture case in the United States.
In a statement issued on Thursday, presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga described Atiku's actions as inappropriate and questioned his moral authority to raise concerns about President Tinubu's past legal issues in the United States.
Onanuga said Atiku had abandoned the principles of statesmanship and was engaging in political manoeuvres aimed at undermining the Nigerian President. He argued that reporting Nigeria's president to a foreign government diminishes the country's sovereignty and national dignity.
According to the Presidency, the petitions relate to a civil forfeiture case dating back to 1993 in which Tinubu forfeited funds to U.S. authorities. Onanuga maintained that the matter was resolved more than three decades ago and did not result in any criminal conviction or finding of guilt against the President.
He further stated that the case has been extensively discussed in Nigeria's political space and that Tinubu has since received electoral mandates from Nigerians.
The Presidency also alleged that Atiku spent approximately $1.2 million on American lobbyists to pursue the matter and challenged him to address questions surrounding his own record in the United States.
Onanuga referenced Atiku's connection to the William Jefferson bribery scandal, which led to the imprisonment of former U.S. Congressman William Jefferson. He also cited a 2010 U.S. Senate investigative report titled *Keeping Foreign Corruption Out of the United States: Four Case Histories*, which mentioned Atiku and his former wife, Jennifer Douglas, in connection with financial transactions involving offshore companies.
The statement further criticised Atiku's role during Nigeria's privatisation programme while serving as vice president, alleging that national assets were sold below value and that the process resulted in job losses and unpaid salaries and pensions.
The Presidency's response follows renewed efforts by a U.S.-based lobbying group to draw attention to Tinubu's historical legal records ahead of the 2027 general elections.
President Tinubu's 1993 forfeiture of $460,000 to the U.S. government has remained a subject of political debate since the 2023 presidential election.
Separately, American transparency advocate Aaron Greenspan and Nigerian journalist David Hundeyin filed legal actions seeking the release of Tinubu's records held by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other U.S. law enforcement agencies.
Although the FBI indicated its intention in 2023 to release approximately 2,500 pages of records in batches of 500 pages per month, legal objections from Tinubu delayed the process.
The controversy continues to generate political debate as both supporters and critics of the President remain divided over the significance of the decades-old U.S. forfeiture case.
