When former Vice President Atiku Abubakar hired a Washington lobbying firm in April 2026, the $1.2 million annual price tag quickly became the talking point.
But the bigger story may be the man who signed the deal.
Karl Von Batten, the Nigerian-born lobbyist representing Atiku’s interests in the United States, has built a career spanning US government agencies, military service and lobbying for African governments.
Yet documents reviewed by TheCable raise questions about his identity, academic history and some details of his professional profile.
Atiku’s agreement with Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C. was filed under the US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
The contract states that the firm was engaged to protect and strengthen Atiku’s “reputational standing” in the United States.
Fabiyi Oladimeji, a politician and African Democratic Congress (ADC) chieftain, signed the agreement for Atiku, while Von Batten signed on behalf of the lobbying firm.
The contract is worth $1.2 million annually.
Nine names. Different filings.
One of the first puzzles surrounding Von Batten is his name.
His LinkedIn profile gives his full name as Karl-Marx Edward Ikemefuna William George Okeke-Von Batten.
That is a striking combination of German, British and Nigerian names.
But that is not the name consistently used in his official lobbying filings.
In Atiku’s 2026 FARA filing, he appears as Karl Von Batten.
In a 2022 filing relating to a lobbying contract involving the Sool, Sanaag and Cayn regions of northern Somalia/Somaliland, he was identified as Karl-Marx Okeke-Von Batten.
The variations raise an obvious question: why does a lobbyist operating in sensitive international affairs appear under different versions of his name in official and professional records?
TheCable said it contacted Von Batten for clarification about his origins, identity and background.
The education trail also differs
His LinkedIn profile identifies the University of Oxford, Columbia University, Harvard University and the New York Institute of Technology as institutions he attended.
But an earlier professional profile presents a different picture.
The profile, published in connection with a 2018 Council of the District of Columbia bill, lists a Doctor of Health Administration from A.T. Still University of Health Sciences, a Master of Science from Oxford University and a Master of Arts/MBA from Columbia University.
There is no Harvard University in that profile.
Instead, it lists a post-MBA certificate in financial management from Cornell University.
That creates another discrepancy: Harvard appears on his current LinkedIn profile, while Cornell appears in the earlier professional profile.
TheCable said it contacted the institutions named across the two profiles to verify his attendance and qualifications.
From Wall Street to the US military
Von Batten has also provided a dramatic account of his path into the US military.
In a November 2025 post on X, he said he was an immigrant and young investment banker working on the 39th floor of the World Trade Centre’s Tower 1 when the September 11, 2001 attacks occurred.
“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,” he wrote.
He said the attacks prompted him to volunteer for military service.
“Before I knew it, like thousands across the country, I rushed to the recruiting station and volunteered for military service.”
Von Batten said his motivation included seeing innocent Americans die, watching the towers collapse, a desire for revenge and hearing President George W. Bush speak from the rubble.
His professional profile says he served in the US Army’s National Guard Bureau between January 2004 and March 2006.
He subsequently listed positions at the US Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of the US Global AIDS Coordinator and Health Diplomacy, the US Department of Defence and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
His LinkedIn profile further states that he served “under General Roosevelt Barfield in support of the Joint Chiefs of Staff per Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.”
A growing African lobbying portfolio
The Atiku contract is only the latest in a series of African lobbying assignments linked to Von Batten.
His firm has represented governments and political interests in several African disputes.
In 2022, the United Somalia Alliance reportedly hired the firm to lobby against US recognition of Somaliland’s independence.
That same year, leaders from Sool, Sanaag and Cayn signed a lobbying agreement with Von Batten-Montague-York.
The stated objective was to educate the Biden administration and Congress about what the group described as the “subjugation and disenchantment” of its people by the Somaliland regime.
In 2023, Somalia’s federal ministry of fisheries and blue economy signed another lobbying contract with the firm to advocate for matters considered beneficial to the Federal Republic of Somalia.
Burundi followed in February 2026 with a $60,000 contract for government affairs, strategic advisory and public relations services in the US.
His role in the DRC-Rwanda dispute
Von Batten has also entered one of Africa’s most contentious geopolitical disputes: the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The DRC engaged his firm to lobby the international community for sanctions against Rwanda over allegations linked to instability in eastern Congo.
Rwanda has rejected allegations that it supports armed groups destabilising the region.
In February 2025, Rwandan newspaper Taarifa reported that the country’s embassy in Washington had denied claims that President Paul Kagame had been disinvited from the US National Prayer Breakfast.
The claims were attributed to Von Batten and reportedly linked Kagame’s alleged exclusion to Rwanda’s involvement in the DRC crisis.
The Rwandan embassy dismissed the claims as “a flat-out lie” and “just petty nonsense.”
Now, Atiku
The latest assignment puts Von Batten at the centre of Nigerian politics ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
Atiku’s decision to spend $1.2 million a year on a US lobbying operation has already attracted political criticism.
But the documents surrounding his representative raise questions that go beyond the size of the contract.
Who exactly is Karl Von Batten?
Why does he use different versions of his name in professional and FARA records?
Why do his LinkedIn and earlier professional profiles list different institutions?
And what will the US lobbying operation deliver for Atiku as the former vice president seeks to strengthen his international reputation?
Those questions remain open as Von Batten’s profile comes under closer scrutiny.
