A United States-based political advisory and lobbying firm, Von Batten-Montague-York, has publicly explained its decision to delete an X post that claimed its managing partner, Dr Karl Von Batten, had been appointed by President Donald Trump to a presidential commission.
The firm stated that the post was removed after the White House contacted Dr Von Batten regarding repeated telephone calls from Nigerian government officials about the appointment.
In a statement posted on its verified X account on Saturday, Von Batten-Montague-York said Dr Von Batten apologised to the White House, noting that the firm had not anticipated the announcement would trigger sustained communication between Nigerian authorities and the US administration.
The statement read in part: “For the record, we deleted the post after the White House informed Dr Von Batten that the Nigerian government was repeatedly calling and ‘whining’ about the appointment.”
The firm went further, asserting that Nigerian President Bola Tinubu was “so afraid” of its work related to alleged Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) claims linking him to a group involved in heroin smuggling from Nigeria to the United States in the 1980s and 1990s. It claimed Dr Von Batten was “basically living rent-free in his head.”
According to the firm, the controversy began with attacks from President Tinubu’s spokespersons and later involved Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo. The company said it expected Vice President Kashim Shettima to be the next senior official to criticise it.
Von Batten-Montague-York posed a rhetorical question to Nigerians: “Why is the entire Nigerian government afraid of one man named Dr Karl Von Batten?”
The firm alleged that the Nigerian Presidency initially denied the appointment, only for officials to contact the White House repeatedly until confirmation was received that President Trump had appointed Dr Von Batten to the Commission on Presidential Scholars. It characterised the subsequent focus on the deleted post as a “tantrum” after the initial denial “collapsed.”
The statement marks the latest development in the public dispute between the US lobbying firm and Nigerian government figures over the claimed presidential appointment.