A United States-based lobbying firm, Von Batten-Montague-York, has claimed that a proposed private meeting between President Bola Tinubu and United States President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly will not take place.
The firm, which has been involved in advocacy over records relating to allegations concerning Tinubu’s past dealings in the United States, made the claim on Monday while commenting on the Nigerian President’s expected attendance at the UN General Assembly in New York next month.
The organisation alleged that members of the Trump administration had indicated that Trump would not hold a private meeting with Tinubu because of allegations linking the Nigerian President to heroin trafficking.
“Unfortunately for President Tinubu, he is going to be embarrassed at the UN. The meeting President #Tinubu has been pushing for with President @realDonaldTrump at the UNGA will not happen,” the firm said.
“Key members of the #Trump Administration have made it clear that President Trump is not going to meet privately with an alleged heroin trafficker.”
The firm also said Tinubu would nevertheless be able to travel to New York for the UN General Assembly, arguing that his position as Nigeria’s President gives him access and transit protections associated with representatives of UN member states.
“As a result of the alleged deal he made with federal authorities during the 1990s, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu cannot be prosecuted for his alleged heroin-trafficking crimes,” the organisation alleged.
“As President of #Nigeria, he can travel to New York to attend the @UN General Assembly (UNGA) under the access and transit protections afforded to representatives of UN member states.”
The organisation’s claims come amid a renewed legal dispute in the United States over the release of Federal Bureau of Investigation records relating to an investigation involving Tinubu in the early 1990s.
The FBI recently submitted documents connected to the investigation to a US federal judge for confidential examination after being ordered to respond to a Freedom of Information Act case brought by American transparency campaigner Aaron Greenspan.
The records were submitted on Friday, August 28, to Judge Beryl Howell of the US District Court for the District of Columbia. They were filed “under seal, ex parte, in camera”, meaning that they were made available privately to the judge for review rather than released to the public.
The dispute centres on FBI records relating to Tinubu and investigations conducted in the United States in 1992 and 1993. Among the materials sought are interview reports, commonly referred to as Form 302 records.
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