A U.S.-based policy advisory and lobbying firm has made a striking claim against Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu — that he has poured millions of dollars into efforts to keep records from his alleged drug trafficking case from ever seeing the light of day.

Von Batten-Montague-York, which operates out of the United States, levelled the accusation in a statement posted to its verified X handle late Tuesday.

According to the firm, Tinubu’s public insistence that he has no intention of blocking the release of these records stands in direct contradiction to what his own legal team has been doing in the ongoing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case.

The firm went further, accusing Tinubu of petitioning the court and reaching out to U.S. law enforcement agencies — including the FBI and the DEA — in what it described as coordinated efforts to prevent the records from being released.

Rather than a straightforward civil matter, the firm contends that the case carries significantly more weight.

“Despite claiming innocence, Tinubu has spent millions of dollars to ensure that his drug trafficking records are never released,” the firm said.

“The description of the underlying matter is merely a civil case. The involvement of US law-enforcement agencies in the records dispute demonstrated that the matter involved sensitive investigative material,” it added.

The legal battle continues

These allegations land against the backdrop of an ongoing legal fight over records held by the U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI, and the DEA, relating to historical investigations that reportedly involved Tinubu.

Reports indicate that U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell recently granted additional days for Jeanine Pirro, an attorney appointed by Donald Trump, to release the alleged drug trafficking records.

It will also be recalled that Tinubu earlier joined the U.S. Department of Justice in requesting a 10-day extension to respond to a motion pushing for the release of the records in question.

For now, the records remain sealed, and the legal back-and-forth continues — with both sides watching closely to see whether the veil over Tinubu’s alleged past will finally be lifted.