The Presidency has intensified its criticism of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, with President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Social Media, Dada Olusegun, vowing that the opposition politician will suffer a defeat he will not forget if he contests the 2027 presidential election.
“He will never forget it,” Olusegun wrote, warning that Atiku’s next presidential contest would end in a memorable loss.
The statement comes amid a war of words between the Presidency and Atiku’s camp, with the recent being over reports attributed to a Washington-based lobbying firm concerning alleged United States intelligence findings involving President Tinubu.
The Presidency recently dismissed the reports as fabricated and politically motivated, accusing Atiku and his political associates of using foreign-based media activities to create damaging narratives against the administration ahead of the 2027 election.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communications, Sunday Dare, described the reports as “a clinical demonstration of desperation” and alleged that they formed part of a coordinated campaign sponsored by Atiku.
Dare claimed that Atiku had engaged Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C., a Washington-based lobbying firm, under a $1.2 million, 12-month retainer. He said the arrangement was designed to challenge the Nigerian government’s narratives and make use of historical American legal records for political purposes.
“The incendiary press releases being carefully churned out from Washington are public relations propaganda sheets passed off as the view of the U.S. Government. They are not,” Dare said.
The presidential aide challenged those circulating the allegations to publish the purported “highly classified intelligence report”, identify the unnamed Western officials allegedly behind the claims and provide documentary evidence to substantiate them.
According to Dare, the reports contained neither classified intelligence documents nor statements from identified American officials connecting Nigeria’s political affairs with any alleged United States intelligence assessment.
He also questioned the authority of Dr Karl-Marx Edward Okeke-Von Batten, whom he described as a commercial lobbyist and founder of Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C., rather than an official of the United States government.
“Dr. Karl Von Batten’s comments represent solely the position of an individual associated with Atiku-linked political interests, not the U.S. government or President Trump,” Dare said.
The Presidency has also rejected claims that Tinubu’s recent foreign trip was connected to legal proceedings in the United States involving requests for the release of historical Federal Bureau of Investigation records.
Dare said the President was on a previously scheduled annual leave and insisted there was “absolutely no connection” between Tinubu’s European trip and the ongoing Freedom of Information Act proceedings in the United States.
He explained that the legal proceedings, which have been ongoing since 2023, relate to issues surrounding the protection of investigative methods and confidential sources.
The presidential aide argued that the court process should be allowed to continue without being turned into a political weapon in Nigeria’s 2027 election battle.
Dare also cited recent comments by Senior Advocate of Nigeria Wole Afolabi on Channels Television concerning requests for historical records held by American federal agencies.
According to him, Afolabi explained that restrictions placed on some of the records were based on established provisions of U.S. law protecting confidential investigative processes and sources, rather than an attempt to protect Tinubu from incriminating information.
Dare further argued that if the Nigerian President had been found criminally liable under American law during previous investigations, U.S. authorities would have taken appropriate legal action at the time.
The Presidency has consequently accused opposition politicians of repeatedly bringing up decades-old American records as part of their campaign strategy ahead of the 2027 election.
The administration has also challenged the opposition to present Nigerians with concrete alternatives on the economy, infrastructure, agriculture and industrial development rather than focusing on allegations concerning Tinubu’s past.
Dare accused opposition politicians of replacing substantive policy discussions with what he called “muckraking, emotional manipulation, and ethnic polarization.”
He maintained that the Tinubu administration would continue to focus on its economic and institutional reforms, infrastructure projects and other policies, insisting that Nigerians would ultimately determine the success or failure of the government through their votes.
“True democratic validation is earned through the ballot box and tangible service delivery to the citizens at home, not through manufactured headlines bought and paid for in foreign currency,” Dare said.
Atiku, who in 2023 contested the presidency on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, is now associated with the African Democratic Congress (ADC), which has emerged as one of the opposition platforms seeking to challenge the ruling All Progressives Congress.
COURTESY: PoliticsNigeria
