US Firm Says Nigeria's Mineral Deal Won't Save Tinubu From FBI Probe

A US advocacy firm, Von Batten-Montague-York, has said plainly that Nigeria's mineral deal with America will not shield President Bola Tinubu from the FBI drug investigation. The firm posted this on its verified X handle yesterday, and the wording is brutal.

They wrote: "the United States did not offer anything in return for the mines" and warned that if the Presidency thought the mines would buy a meeting with President Donald Trump or bury Tinubu's alleged FBI and DEAHQ heroin-trafficking records, then "someone on President Tinubu's team sold him a bridge to nowhere." That is not speculation from a Lagos bus park. That is a US firm putting it in writing on X.

Here is what bothers me as a lawyer. An MoU is not a treaty. It creates no enforceable obligation. So if Nigeria gave access to solid minerals and got nothing binding in return, then we did not sign a deal, we signed a photo opportunity. And no mineral signature cures a criminal file sitting in Washington. Am I the only one that thinks we are trading our ground for handshakes?