President Bola Tinubu’s administration allegedly offered a mining cooperation deal to the United States as part of efforts to secure a meeting between Tinubu and US President Donald Trump, according to a US-based political advisory and lobbying firm, Von-Batten-Montague-York.
The claim came after Nigeria and the United States signed an agreement to deepen American investment in Nigeria’s mining sector on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The agreement was signed at the Nigeria Mission House by Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, and US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau.
Cliq.ng reports that the framework covers geological data and exploration, mineral development and processing, infrastructure and technical capacity.
Reacting to the development in a post on X, Von-Batten-Montague-York said the agreement represented the beginning of cooperation between Nigeria and the US over critical minerals and claimed that the deal was among proposals allegedly put forward by Tinubu in an effort to secure a meeting with Trump.
“The signing of the U.S.-Nigeria mining MOU is the first step of cooperation between the United States and Nigeria that serves America’s interests in having access to critical metals and minerals while improving the Nigerian mining industry,” the firm said.
“This MOU was first announced by the Nigerian government last week and was meant to be signed at the UN with President Bola Tinubu @OfficialABAT. It was one of the proposals that Nigerian President Bola Tinubu had allegedly offered in exchange for a meeting with President @realDonaldTrump.”
The firm further claimed that it contacted the Trump administration after the proposed arrangement became public.
“We immediately reached out to the #Trump Administration, which resulted in the article being immediately taken down, the signing at the UN being canceled, and President Tinubu staying in France,” it alleged.
“President Trump instead signed other agreements at the UN. The United States got the mines; President Tinubu got no meeting.”
The allegation comes against the backdrop of earlier reports and claims by the same firm concerning Tinubu’s planned participation in the UN General Assembly and an expected meeting with Trump. The firm had previously claimed that efforts to secure a meeting between both presidents had failed and questioned the circumstances surrounding Tinubu’s decision not to personally attend the gathering.
