The Presidency on Thursday accused former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of internationalising a long-settled domestic dispute after reports that he hired US lobbyists to press American officials over an old civil-forfeiture matter involving President Bola Tinubu.
Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to the President Bayo Onanuga a statement titled “When Will Atiku Abubakar Report Himself to President Trump?”, said Atiku’s engagement of lobbyists to petition President Donald Trump, the US State Department and members of Congress represented an attempt to use foreign pressure to influence Nigeria’s internal politics.
“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.
He called the move “unbecoming” of a former Vice President and a political elder.
The presidential spokesman described the dispute in question as long settled.
Onanuga said the matter traces to a 1993 civil-forfeiture case in the United States that, he asserted, was resolved more than 30 years ago without any criminal conviction against President Tinubu.
The presidential spokesman added that similar questions had been exhaustively litigated in Nigeria and rendered moot by Tinubu’s electoral victories in Lagos and at the national level and by rulings from the Nigerian Supreme Court after the 2023 presidential election.
“Reviving this matter today is an affront to the intelligence of Nigerians and an attempt to rewrite history for personal gain,” Onanuga said, adding that using foreign lobbyists to promote allegations aired during the 2023 campaign amounted to an effort to “externalise Nigeria’s internal political contest.”
The statement warned that reporting Nigeria’s President to foreign authorities undermined national dignity.
“Nigeria is a sovereign nation, not a satellite of any foreign power,” Onanuga said.
While acknowledging that lobbying is a legitimate part of the American political system, the presidency criticised the use of overseas lobbyists to amplify domestic disputes.
“Nigerians resolved this matter at the ballot in February 2023 and in the Supreme Court. That verdict stands,” the statement said,
Onanuga dismissed Atiku’s actions as a “fishing expedition.”
The Special Adviser also sought to shift scrutiny back onto Atiku, accusing him of connections to US investigations and citing a 2010 US Senate report that referenced financial transactions involving Atiku and his then-wife.
Onanuga however did not allege any American conviction but argued Atiku’s ambitions for the presidency were intended, in part, to secure diplomatic protections abroad.
The statement renewed long-standing attacks on the privatisation programme during Atiku’s tenure as Vice President from 1999 to 2007.
Onanuga alleged that strategic assets were sold to political associates at undervalued prices, producing job losses and unpaid pensions—grievances he said the current administration was addressing.
Instead of proposing policy alternatives on the economy, security and governance, the presidency said, Atiku had chosen “media campaigns and lobbying efforts outside Nigeria.”
Onanuga further insisted President Tinubu would remain focused on his “Renewed Hope Agenda” and not be distracted by what he characterised as the theatrics of “perennial losers.”
