By Alabi Williams
Last week’s report of an assassination plot targeting former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC), Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, added a twist to an already charged election season. Threat to life and property are not designed to be part of the democratic exercise. However, history of electioneering at home and abroad is replete with incidences of violence and political murders.
It is on record that not less than 30 persons were murdered to usher in the Osun State governorship election of August 15. Even President Donald Trump of the United States, had his ear grazed by an assassin’s bullet in a campaign rally at Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. It was a narrow escape, but some theorists doubted it could have been staged. Despite the remoteness of claims, the concern should be to have politics that is devoid of violence toxic language. A presidential candidate of any party is no longer the average citizen. He is a carrier of the mandate of a political party. Let politicians and their supporters be careful.
It was Dr Karl Von Batten, the U.S.-based lobbyist working for the ADC presidential candidate, who raised the alarm last week Tuesday, of an alleged plot to assassinate Atiku ahead of the 2027 presidential election. He disclosed this in a post on X, where he described the report as very troubling. He alleged also, that the Nigerian Presidency and its agents are behind the plot. He said he intended to bring the situation to the notice of the administration of President Donald Trump, where he is advertised as a senior Government Advisor, Consultant and close Republican ally. Meaning that he could have Trump’s ears.
His words: “We find the reports that the Nigerian Presidency and its agents are allegedly plotting to assassinate former Nigerian Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, very troubling. Despite a reported $9 million D.D. engagement and $700 billion in mines, they cannot beat him in Nigeria, so their only option is to kill him. President Donald Trump has survived multiple assassination attempts, so we know the lengths evil people will go to stop change. Dr Von Batten fully intends to bring these latest allegations against Nigerian President Bola Tinubu to the attention of the Trump administration and the Congress. The United States has given President Tinubu enough rope. A word of advice to President Tinubu and company: Do not test the United States and President Trump with a political assassination that will cause geopolitical shockwaves and force the United States to act. It will not end well for you.”
Pretty weighty allegation and strong words. Von Batten Montague was hired by Atiku Abubakar in March 2026, in a formal lobbying contract filed with the U.S. Department of Justice under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), 1938. The contract is valued at $1.2 million for 12 months, with responsibility to influence U.S. government and public opinion in favour of his client. He is to lobby the U.S. Congress, congressional staff and officials of the executive. Part of the job is to put eye on democratic governance, regional stability, economic development, U.S., Nigeria/West Africa relations.
Part of the assignment is to counter narratives of the Nigerian government and project Atiku’s side. For that, Von Batten has been deeply involved in the politics of 2027 and how Atiku will come out victorious. He became active in the quest by Aaron Greespan to make public records on Bola Tinubu and others in a Chicago heroine case between 1992-93. On that score, it’s been a grueling media turf between Karl Von Batten and agents of the Federal Government, with both sides sparring in a no-end back and forth.
The media confrontation was so fierce, some might conclude, was the underlying reason President Tinubu could not make it to the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York. In the months preceding UNGA, the intense media focus on Nigeria and its Presidency was unmistakable, to the extent that even when there was no direct threat from Washington, discretion became the better of valour. As for the aspect of unraveling the 1992/93 Chicago court records, that has cut no ice, or is at best work in progress.
For Von Batten, the assassination theory may be a strategy to keep the conversation alive. Perhaps not. That’s why the allegation deserves serious attention. Timi Frank, former Deputy national Publicity Secretary of the APC and consistent ally of Atiku, also echoed the assassination alarm. In an open letter, he pleaded with President Trump and the international community to intervene, noting that the allegations regarding Alhaji Atiku’s safety require urgent and independent investigation.
Timi Frank said: “These allegations must be independently and urgently investigated. Given their gravity, however, they cannot be dismissed or ignored until it’s too late to prevent harm… The protection of political opposition is not a favour that any government grants at its discretion. It’s a fundamental obligation of every democratic state… The protection of Atiku Abubakar’s life and liberty, the safety of all opposition leaders, and the integrity of Nigeria’s 2027 elections must be treated as urgent democratic priorities. The world mustn’t wait for a tragedy before it acts.”
In its reaction, the Presidential Campaign Council of APC, in a statement signed by Dele Alake, its spokesperson, admitted the allegation is grave, one which the security agencies must prove.
The statement said: “We thus urge security agencies to invite him (Timi Frank), to substantiate the allegation, given its gravity and the urgent need to preserve life. We also urge Mr. Frank not to hesitate to provide any information in his possession that will enable prompt investigation. Any credible threat to life must be treated seriously, irrespective of political affiliation.”
In another breath in the same response, Alake said the APCPCC categorically reject the claim that the Presidency or the councils itself is involved in plots to assassinate Atiku.
Hear him: “Mr Frank’s claim is typical opposition rabble-rousing meant to heat the polity. Many opposition figures, including Timi Frank, have made it a habit to write open letters and tag foreign leaders and international organisations in social media posts to draw undeserved attention to themselves…” asserting that as parties go deeper into the campaigns, outlandish and frivolous allegations of this nature will be bandied by politicians to gain advantage.
The APC Presidency thinks the assassination plot is grave enough to warrant security scrutiny. At the same time, it considers it frivolous and outlandish. That ought to be the decision of security agencies that have the responsibility and expertise to interrogate intelligence and investigate allegations. It is not for the APC to postulate on what is real or fabricated. This is a threat to life and if the Tinubu government wanted to be taken seriously, it should have constituted a security team to quickly investigate the allegation. The President is the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces and other security agencies. Let it commandeer the DSS and others to investigate the plot, and invite Timi Frank and perhaps, get briefed by Atiku before a report is issued. That will show some level of concern and responsibility.
The Von Batten connection in the assassination story should worry people in government. Nigeria became a sovereign member of the United Nations in 1960. But elections in the country are still dependent on financial support and endorsement by Western countries. It is a sign of weakness and failure to develop a political system that is self-regulating and accounting.
The Tinubu government is worried that the opposition is externalising local politics. But this is not the first time Nigeria would form the habit of writing open and tag foreign leaders in the hope to draw international attention to highhandedness of the ruling party. It was the APC that perfected the trick during the Goodluck Jonathan years. APC exploited the Boko Haram and Chibok schoolgirls’ abduction to score cheap points with President Obama and Mrs Obama.
With Dr Karl Von Batten still active, an Atiku assassination story is not one the Tinubu government should dismiss or treat as a non-issue. There is a likelihood that President Trump would be touched by it, being victim of a close shave himself. If the APC believed that they did the right thing in 2015 with the U.S. government, when they hired lobbyists and PR experts to project their case, they should not be surprised that today’s opposition is applying same method.
The response is not to be dismissive. Let politicians work hard to evolve a political system that is free and fair and free of violence and killings. Nigeria is big enough to solve her problems.
Sowore’s request to use Aso Villa for AAC campaign inauguration
The candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has written to President Tinubu, requesting permission to inaugurate AAC’s presidential campaign council at the Presidential Villa, Aso Rock, on November 11. The letter, dated October 21, 2026, signed by AAC’s national Secretary, Oshiokhue Philip Ikpeminoghena, also demanded food, drinks and logistical support for 5,000 participants from home and abroad.
AAC said its demand is based on the principles of multi-party democracy: political inclusiveness and equal treatment, citing similar arrangements reportedly extended to the APC. The party is insisting that public institutions must serve all Nigerians without partisan discrimination.
One’s reading of AAC’s letter does not suggest that the party cannot afford to hire a place to hold its inauguration. It is rather a subtle call for government to democratise democracy. Nigeria’s winner-takes-all style of democracy is not serving the majority. The Tinubu government has captured the institutions and resources that belong to all Nigerians. It is only APC that is doing real physical campaigns, just showing off stupendous wealth amidst excruciating mass poverty.
The only thing this government has not monopolised is the oxygen that God has made available to all.
Sowore’s letter is food for thought!
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