A United States-based political advisory and lobbying firm, Von Batten-Montague-York, has claimed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) possesses wiretap recordings involving President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in connection with an investigation into alleged heroin trafficking.
The firm made the claim in a statement published on its verified X account on Thursday, while commenting on an ongoing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case involving records held by the FBI and other US government agencies.
According to Von Batten-Montague-York, an FBI filing before a US federal court indicates that records responsive to requests concerning Tinubu include material obtained through wiretaps.
The firm said the FBI had asked the court to prevent the disclosure of what it described as highly sensitive wiretap recordings.
It further claimed that the FBI stated that the responsive records were compiled during an investigation involving multiple individuals suspected of heroin-trafficking crimes.
The lobbying firm interpreted the filing as suggesting that Tinubu may have been captured in recordings connected to the investigation.
“In our plain-English reading of the document, the FBI has Nigerian President Bola Tinubu on tape connected to heroin-trafficking crimes,” the firm stated.
Von Batten-Montague-York said the FBI had relied on FOIA Exemption 3 and provisions of 18 U.S.C. Sections 2510 to 2520, which govern the interception and disclosure of communications under US federal law, in seeking to protect information contained in the records.
The firm argued that the court should order the release of the wiretap material, saying the contents would be of public interest if they involve Nigeria’s President.
“If Nigerian President Tinubu is on those wiretapes connected to heroin trafficking, the American people, the Donald Trump Administration, Congress, and the Nigerian people deserve to know what those tapes contain,” the firm said.
However, the claim by the lobbying firm does not establish that Tinubu committed a drug-trafficking offence. The firm’s interpretation of the FBI filing is also different from a judicial finding that Tinubu participated in heroin trafficking.
The development is connected to an ongoing FOIA dispute in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, where records relating to Tinubu have been sought from US government agencies.
The FBI has previously maintained that some responsive records are protected from disclosure under statutory exemptions, including provisions relating to law-enforcement investigations, personal privacy, confidential sources and investigative techniques.
The latest claim is expected to generate further debate over the contents of the records and whether the US court will permit additional material to be disclosed.
The case remains a records-disclosure proceeding, and any material ultimately released would have to be considered in its proper legal and factual context.
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