Atiku’s lobbyist Von Batten deletes Trump appointment post following Tinubu aide’s remark

Karl Von Batten, a Washington-based lobbyist working for former Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar, has deleted a social media post announcing his appointment by U.S. President Donald Trump to a White House presidential commission, according to a report by Daily Post Nigeria.

The post, published on the verified X account of his firm, Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C., is no longer available. The deletion followed comments from Sunday Dare, a media aide to President Bola Tinubu, who downplayed the announcement, clarifying that the appointment was to the Commission on Presidential Scholars, an education panel administered by the U.S. Department of Education with no bearing on foreign policy, national security, or diplomacy. Von Batten’s firm was hired to strengthen Atiku’s reputation in the United States and has also pushed for the release of American law enforcement records concerning Tinubu’s alleged links to drug trafficking.