{
  "id": 5149443,
  "title": "Drug case: Your insults can’t bury the American record, Atiku tells Tinubu",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/02/drug-case-your-insults-cant-bury-the-american-record-atiku-tells",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-02T18:06:56.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Daily Trust",
    "slug": "daily-trust",
    "url": "https://dailytrust.com/drug-case-your-insults-cant-bury-the-american-record-atiku-tells-tinubu/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has accused President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of resorting to personal attacks and distractions instead of addressing serious issues arising from documented American records. In a statement issued on Wednesday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku denounced Tinubu's attempts to change the subject by mocking Karl Von Batten's personal life, ancestry, and business history. Shaibu emphasized that these distractions would not erase the documented evidence. He pointed out that the $1.2 million engagement between Atiku and Von Batten-Montague-York was voluntarily registered with the US Department of Justice under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Shaibu questioned why Tinubu's name was linked to a federal narcotics and money-laundering investigation and why a US District Court had entered a decree forfeiting $460,000 held in Tinubu's name. He clarified that a civil forfeiture is not a criminal conviction and that the records in question are part of an American judicial record. Shaibu criticized Tinubu for hypocrisy, noting that while Tinubu's administration spent $750,000 monthly on lobbying (equivalent to $4.5 million for the first six months and potentially $9 million), Atiku's $1.2 million engagement was dismissed as desperation. He emphasized that the issue was not about the right to engage lobbyists but the discrepancy in the scrutiny of both sides. Shaibu urged Tinubu to focus on the affordability issues faced by Nigerians, such as the rising cost of food, transportation, and electricity, rather than engaging in personal attacks. He stated that Nigerians seek answers to their daily struggles and cannot be swayed by insults or investigations into others' personal lives.",
  "summary": "Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has challenged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to answer the substantive questions arising from documented American records, accusing him of hiding behind personal attacks, distractions and theatrical diversions. In a statement issued on Wednesday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said the latest intervention by Sunday…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Daily Post Nigeria",
        "title": "Alleged drug trafficking: Tinubu forged US Embassy letter – Lobbying firm alleges",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/02/alleged-drug-trafficking-tinubu-forged-us-embassy-letter-lobbying",
        "published": "2026-09-02T16:12:14.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}