The African Democratic Congress, ADC, has described the payment of $9m to the United States lobbying team as ” scandalous and Indefensible”
The opposition Party said the contract for US lobbying services, was part of attempt to launder its image abroad while Nigerians grapple with worsening insecurity and economic hardship.
Bolaji Abdullahi, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday, stated that the expenditure reflects misplaced priorities.
The payment came at a time when thousands of citizens have been killed and millions can barely afford basic necessities.
The party argued that ” no amount of paid lobbying can mask the government’s failure to protect lives and property”
The ADC therefore, condemned the Tinubu administration for deploying scarce public resources to launder its battered image abroad instead of addressing the deepening security and economic crises at home, as reported in recent disclosures on the federal government’s $9 million lobbying contract in the United States.
According to the ADC, ” No government in Africa has ever committed such an obscene sum to a short-term public relations exercise”
The ADC noted that while it recognises the importance of representing Nigeria’s interests internationally, ” spending $9 million on image management at a time when millions of Nigerians cannot afford food, fuel, or basic healthcare is a clear case of misplaced priorities and moral blindness”
The party also described the decision as ” an admission of diplomatic failure.
This is coming at a time when Nigeria’s mission abroad remain without their vital heads such as Ambassadors and High Commissioners
The ADC noted that ” A government that has left key ambassadorial positions vacant now seeks to outsource diplomacy to lobbyists, further weakening Nigeria’s institutional credibility and reducing foreign policy to transactional propaganda.
“More troubling is the illusion that paid lobbying in Washington can erase the reality of mass killings, widespread insecurity, and state failure at home.
“No amount of image laundering can wash away the blood of thousands of Nigerians killed under this administration’s watch. Lobbying to impress foreign leaders cannot substitute for a coherent strategy to end the bloodbath.
“A President who declares a state of emergency on security and then proceeds on foreign holidays cannot be rescued by public relations firms.
Equally dangerous is the framing of this lobbying effort as a campaign to “communicate Christian protection efforts.”
” This risks deepening sectarian tensions and politicising security in a country already strained by religious and ethnic fault lines. Security failures affect all Nigerians, regardless of faith, and cannot be addressed through selective messaging abroad instead of justice, accountability, and effective governance at home.” the statement said
The ADC therefore insists that ” Nigeria does not need propaganda. Nigeria needs leadership. Resources should be spent protecting lives, restoring trust in state institutions, and rebuilding a country in distress, not polishing the image of a government that has failed its most basic responsibility: the protection of lives and property.”
