A United States-based lobbying and advisory firm, Von Batten-Montague-York, has announced plans to institute a $36m federal lawsuit against President Bola Tinubu and Nigeria’s Ambassador-designate to South Africa, Femi Fani-Kayode, over alleged threats to kidnap and physically harm its principal, Dr Karl Von Batten.
The firm, which has been working for former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, said it had been cleared to proceed with the suit at the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
According to reports by Daily Post, Naija News and 247UReports, the firm said the proposed action was connected to what it described as threats allegedly made against Von Batten by Fani-Kayode in the course of an increasingly heated dispute over historical United States records relating to Tinubu.
The firm said in a statement on Wednesday that the planned lawsuit would be based on District of Columbia tort law, the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act and the Anti-Terrorism Act.
It also said it intended to test the application of sovereign and head-of-state immunity to Tinubu, who remains Nigeria’s sitting President.
The lobbying firm further announced plans to engage United States, United Kingdom and European Union immigration authorities over the alleged threats and whether Fani-Kayode’s travel or visa status should be reviewed.
The latest development followed an earlier allegation by the firm that Fani-Kayode had threatened to kidnap and physically harm Von Batten.
Von Batten-Montague-York said it had briefed the US Department of State and forwarded a report to the Federal Bureau of Investigation over what it described as possible “transnational repression.” QED reported that the firm linked the allegation to its campaign for the release of US records concerning historical drug-trafficking allegations involving Tinubu.
Fani-Kayode, however, has denied any plan to harm or abduct Von Batten.
In a response published on Tuesday, the former Aviation Minister said the allegation was based on a September 20 post he made on X, arguing that the post did not constitute a threat to Von Batten’s life or liberty.
“For the records, nobody is interested in ‘killing’ or ‘kidnapping’ you, as you and your company have alleged on X,” Fani-Kayode said in the response published by Premium Times.
He added that he was “not in the business of killing people or of kidnapping them”, but would continue to challenge what he described as false claims against Tinubu and the Nigerian government.
Fani-Kayode also disputed Von Batten’s claims concerning Tinubu’s alleged involvement in drug trafficking in the United States, challenging the lobbyist to produce evidence of any indictment or conviction against the President.
The dispute is part of a broader confrontation over US records linked to a 1993 civil forfeiture proceeding involving funds associated with Tinubu.
247UReports noted that the underlying proceeding was a civil forfeiture case involving property and not, by itself, a criminal conviction of Tinubu. The publication also reported that the latest $36m lawsuit had not yet appeared on the public US federal court docket as of Wednesday.
The proposed suit therefore remains, at this stage, an announced legal action rather than a confirmed court proceeding.
The lobbying firm said it expected to file the complaint next week, after which further details of its claims and the legal basis for its action would become subject to scrutiny by the court.
The Nigerian Presidency had not publicly responded to the latest announcement as of Wednesday, while the allegations of kidnapping and physical harm against Von Batten have not been established by a court.
