By Daniel Oluwatobiloba Popoola
Washington-based lobbyist, Karl Von Batten, has deleted a social media post in which he announced that United States President Donald Trump had appointed him as a commissioner to a White House presidential commission.
Checks on the verified X account of his firm, Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C., where the post was originally published, showed that it was no longer available.
The firm had earlier announced that Trump appointed its managing partner as a commissioner, a claim that drew swift reactions from within the Nigerian government.
Reacting to the announcement, one of President Bola Tinubu’s media aides, Sunday Dare, downplayed the appointment, explaining that it was to the Commission on Presidential Scholars, an education panel administered by the United States Department of Education, which he said has no responsibility for American foreign policy, national security, diplomacy, or relations with Nigeria.
Von Batten is the managing partner of Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C., a Washington-based lobbying firm hired by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to strengthen his reputational standing in the United States.
He has also been actively pushing for the release of US law enforcement records concerning President Tinubu over allegations linking him to drug trafficking.
