MAN IN THE NEWS: Von Batten, the Nigerian-born Atiku lobbyist whose background is under scrutiny

When, in April 2026, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar hired Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C., a Washington-based lobbying firm, to protect and strengthen his “reputational standing” in the United States, more attention was paid to the deal’s worth than to the contract’s signee.

A Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) filing with the US Department of Justice showed that the contract amounted to $1,200,000 annually, eliciting varied reactions from Nigerians, and criticism, mainly from loyalists of Atiku’s 2027 opponent, President Bola Tinubu, candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The contract agreement, seen by TheCable, was signed for Atiku by Fabiyi Oladimeji, a Nigerian politician and chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), while Karl Von Batten signed on behalf of Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C.

NINE NAMES, SEVERAL VARIANTS

Now, here is where it gets interesting.

On Von Batten’s LinkedIn profile, his full name is listed as “Karl-Marx Edward Ikemefuna William George Okeke-Von Batten” — a mixbag of British, German/Austrian, and Nigerian names.

Karl Marx was a German philosopher and revolutionary socialist who is widely regarded as the father of communism. “Von” is a common prefix for surnames linked to nobility in Germany and Austria, while Ikemefuna Okeke suggests south-east Nigerian roots, and Batten is of British origin.

Von Batten also appears to use the names interchangeably.

In the FARA filing for Atiku in 2026, he used Karl Von Batten. However, in the filing for a 2022 contract with the Sool, Sanaag, and Cayn regions of northern Somalia/Somaliland, he used Karl-Marx Okeke-Von Batten.

It is not immediately clear how Batten came to acquire the collection of names. TheCable has reached out to him for clarity on his origin and roots.

TRUMP ACOLYTE AND ARMY VETERAN

On his LinkedIn page, Von Batten, a staunch supporter of US President Donald Trump and member of the Republican Party, listed the University of Oxford, Columbia University, Harvard University, and New York Institute of Technology as his alma maters.

Although Von Batten did not state his course of study or the year he attended the institutions, his professional profile, seen by TheCable in an archived 2018 Council of the District of Columbia bill, provided more details.

The profile, published on LegiScan, showed that Von Batten obtained a Doctor of Health Administration from A.T Still University of Health Sciences, bagged a Master of Science at Oxford University, and a Master of Arts/MBA at Columbia University.

The 2018 profile, however, did not include Harvard University, which is listed on his LinkedIn page. Rather, it showed that he obtained a post-MBA certificate in financial management from Cornell University — an institution that is not listed in his professional profile found on LegiScan.

TheCable has written to all the institutions in both his professional profile and LinkedIn page to ascertain his attendance and other relevant details.

According to his professional profile, Von Batten said he was a member of the National Guard Bureau of the US Army between January 2004 and March 2006.

Von Batten said he worked in the US Department of Health and Human Services for the next two years, after which he moved to the Office of the US Global AIDS Coordinator and Health Diplomacy for another five years.

He said he subsequently served in the United States Department of Defence before moving to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (Veterans Health Administration) in 2016.

HE ‘JOINED THE US ARMY AFTER 9/11’

In an X post published in November 2025, Von Batten said in 2001, he was “an immigrant and young investment banker” working on the 39th floor of the World Trade Centre in the US when the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack happened.

Von Batten, who is married to Elizabeth Blazevich (Okeke-Von Batten), said the incident motivated him to enlist in the US military.

“In 2001, Wall Street was my home. I was an immigrant, a young investment banker, and my office was on the 39th floor of the World Trade Centre, Tower 1. September 11, 2001, changed my life,” Batten wrote.

“Before I knew it, like thousands across the country, I rushed to the recruiting station and volunteered for military service. We had one mission: seek, find, and destroy the enemies of the United States.

“I was inspired by four things: watching innocent Americans die, watching the towers collapse, my desire for revenge, and the words of President George W. Bush as he stood on a pile of rubble holding a bullhorn.”

In his LinkedIn About section, Batten said he served “under General Roosevelt Barfield in support of the Joint Chiefs of Staff per Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom”.

LOBBYING FOR AFRICAN COUNTRIES

Von Batten, through his lobbying firm, has executed contracts for a number of African countries.

An Africa Report article of February 2022 said the United Somalia Alliance had hired Von Batten to “lobby against US recognition of Somaliland independence”.

In April 2022, the lobbyist and the clan leaders of the Sool, Sanaag, and Cayn regions of Somalia signed a lobbying contract with Von Batten-Montague-York to “educate the Biden Administration and Congress about the subjugation and disenchantment of the SCC people by the Somaliland regime”.

In March 2023, Von Batten and the federal ministry of fisheries and blue economy of Somalia signed a lobbying contract to “lobby, advocate, and push matters and interests beneficial to the Federal Republic of Somalia”.

Three years later, in February 2026, the Republic of Burundi engaged his firm in a $60,000 lobbying contract to “provide comprehensive government affairs, strategic advisory, and public relations services in the United States in furtherance of Burundi’s sovereign interests”.

DRC LINKS AND RWANDA ROW

Von Batten was recently engaged by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) government to lobby the international community for sanctions against Rwanda, a neighbouring country accused of complicity in the insecurity in Eastern DRC.

While we welcome reports that members of the #Kagame regime have visited Washington, D.C., and once again agreed, for the hundredth time, to remove their troops from eastern DRC, everyone knows Kagame has no true desire for peace.

President @PaulKagame’s plan is clear: to… pic.twitter.com/jFq8FVSGbo

— Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C. (@batten_von) March 21, 2026

In February 2025, Taarifa, a Rwandan newspaper, reported that the country’s embassy in the United States had denied reports suggesting that President Paul Kagame’s invitation to the US National Prayer Breakfast had been revoked.

According to Taarifa, the claims emanated from Batten, who was reported to have said Kagame was “uninvited” because of Rwanda’s alleged role in the DR Congo crisis.

The Rwandan embassy described the claims as “a flat-out lie” and “just petty nonsense”. (TheCable)