Some of the theories put forward to explain 'Oumuamuas behavior include it being a hydrogen or nitrogen iceberg. This could explain 'Oumuamua's non-gravitational accelleration as outgassing of nitrogen or hydrogen would not have been detected.
I can understand why nitrogen gas would not have been detectable when observing through a thick nitrogen Earth atmosphere, but 'Oumuamua has also been observed by Hubble and Spitzer, why would those not be able to see nitrogen or hydrogen outgassing?