{"id":129519,"date":"2026-09-18T03:24:25","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T02:24:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=129519"},"modified":"2026-09-18T03:24:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T02:24:25","slug":"us-lobby-firm-targets-tinubu-says-democrats-could-probe-nigeria-mining-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/us-lobby-firm-targets-tinubu-says-democrats-could-probe-nigeria-mining-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"US Lobby Firm Targets Tinubu, Says Democrats Could Probe Nigeria Mining Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>By Lizzy Chirkpi<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A United States-based lobbying and policy advisory firm, Von Batten-Montague-York, has warned that any proposed U.S.-Nigeria mining or critical-minerals agreement involving President Bola Tinubu\u2019s administration could face scrutiny from congressional Democrats if they regain control of the U.S. House of Representatives.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The firm made the claim in a series of posts on its official X account, linking the proposed mining agreement to its broader campaign over U.S. government records relating to allegations concerning Tinubu\u2019s past.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The firm said it had been informed that congressional Democrats could include any mining agreement between the United States and Nigeria, as well as the involvement of Trump administration officials responsible for Africa-related affairs, in broader oversight investigations into the administration\u2019s critical-minerals and mining agreements.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cWe have just been told that congressional Democrats (@HouseDemocrats @SenateDems) will include any U.S.-Nigerian Presidency (@officialABAT) mining deal and any involvement by the @US_SrAdvisorAF in their broad oversight investigations into the @realDonaldTrump administration\u2019s critical mineral and mining deals if they win back the House,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The statement comes amid heightened attention to a proposed U.S.-Nigeria minerals agreement expected to be announced around the United Nations General Assembly.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier, the firm had questioned the timing and optics of the proposed agreement while referring to an alleged unsolicited $3 million offer purportedly made by an APC member connected to Tinubu.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">However, the firm said it had no evidence linking the alleged offer to the proposed minerals agreement.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In its latest statement, the firm went beyond the mining deal, identifying its campaign over allegations concerning Tinubu\u2019s past as its principal advocacy priority.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cThis firm\u2019s fight against the Nigerian President\u2019s (@officialABAT) alleged drug-trafficking past tainting the integrity of the United States and President @realDonaldTrump is now our number one advocacy priority,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The firm also rejected what it described as claims that the issue had been resolved through payments to U.S. officials.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cThe reported \u2018We have settled [bribed] the Americans\u2019 is a fantasy that exists only in the heads of corrupt #Nigerian government officials,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The firm further issued a direct political appeal to members of the Trump administration and Republican lawmakers, stating: \u201cNigerian President #Tinubu must not be allowed anywhere near President Trump or any Republican official.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The allegations concerning Tinubu\u2019s past remain contested. Von Batten-Montague-York has been campaigning for the release of FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration records relating to Tinubu, while legal proceedings in the United States have been linked to efforts to obtain the records.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The firm has characterised the records as relevant to allegations concerning Tinubu. However, the existence of records or legal efforts to obtain them does not, by itself, establish the allegations as fact.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The latest intervention follows several months of increasingly public statements by the firm concerning Tinubu, his administration and Nigeria\u2019s 2027 political environment.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In April and May, the firm said it was briefing officials in the Trump administration on issues including insecurity and electoral integrity in Nigeria.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The firm has also claimed that efforts by the Nigerian government to secure U.S. political support for Tinubu\u2019s 2027 re-election had failed. Those claims, however, were statements by the lobbying firm and were not independently established in the reports reviewed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Meanwhile, the proposed U.S.-Nigeria minerals agreement is part of efforts to deepen economic cooperation around Nigeria\u2019s critical-mineral resources.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The latest intervention by Von Batten-Montague-York suggests that the proposed agreement could become another point of contention in the firm\u2019s continuing campaign concerning the Tinubu administration and its engagement with Washington.<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lizzy Chirkpi A United States-based lobbying and policy advisory firm, Von Batten-Montague-York, has warned that any proposed U.S.-Nigeria mining or critical-minerals agreement involving President Bola Tinubu\u2019s administration could face&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":129520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - 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