Tinubu’s 2003 US Clearance Letter Questioned as Atiku, Presidency Clash Over $460,000 Forfeiture

A purported 2003 letter from the American Consulate in Lagos said to have cleared President Bola Tinubu of criminal arrest records in the United States has come under fresh scrutiny, with a US-based lobbying firm questioning whether the document is genuine.

The controversy erupted after former presidential aide Reno Omokri shared the document on X. Dated February 4, 2003, the letter is addressed to Tafa Balogun, who was then Inspector General of Police, and is signed by Michael H. Bonner, identified as a Legal Attaché at the American Consulate in Lagos.

The document claims that the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Crime Information Centre (NCIC) was checked following an inquiry from the Nigeria Police Force. It states that the search found no records of criminal arrests or warrants involving Tinubu, whose date of birth was listed as March 29, 1952.

But Von Batten-Montague-York, a Washington-based lobbying firm, has raised doubts over the document’s authenticity. The firm cited several apparent spelling and grammatical errors, including “czheck” instead of “check” and “maitatins” instead of “maintains”. It also questioned phrases such as “it’s territories” and “contact me direct”.

“Given these errors, we find it very difficult to accept this letter as authentic without independent verification,” the firm said. It warned that anyone who fabricated a document and presented it as an official US government communication could face legal consequences under American law.

The dispute comes amid renewed interest in historical US records involving Tinubu. The FBI and US Department of Justice are currently involved in litigation over records sought by transparency activist Aaron Greenspan, including FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration documents connected to investigations dating back to the early 1990s.

However, a negative NCIC search should not automatically be treated as proof that a person was never investigated or had no other records held by US agencies. The material available also does not show that US authorities have publicly authenticated the copy shared by Omokri.

The issue has triggered a wider political confrontation between the Tinubu administration and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. Presidential media adviser Sunday Dare accused Atiku of using a reported $1.2 million lobbying agreement with Von Batten-Montague-York to push a politically motivated campaign ahead of the 2027 elections, while Atiku said the Presidency was avoiding the central issue.

Atiku argued that criticism of the lobbyist does not answer questions about an alleged $460,000 forfeiture involving Tinubu in the United States. He also challenged the administration to explain what he described as its own $9 million arrangement, saying the political dispute should be settled by addressing the records rather than attacking those raising questions about them.