The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has condemned the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration over reports that the Federal Government approved a $9 million contract for lobbying services in the United States, describing the move as an attempt to launder its battered image abroad while Nigerians grapple with worsening insecurity and deepening economic hardship.
In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the party said the expenditure reflects grossly misplaced priorities at a time when thousands of citizens have been killed and millions can barely afford basic necessities.
The full statement reads:
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) condemns the Bola Ahmed 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 revealed in recent disclosures of the Federal Government’s $9 million lobbying contract in the United States.
No government in Africa has ever committed such an obscene sum to a short-term public relations exercise. While the ADC 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.
This decision is also an admission of diplomatic failure. A government that has left key ambassadorial positions vacant now seeks to outsource diplomacy to foreign 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 ADC insists that Nigeria does not need propaganda. Nigeria needs leadership. Public 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 in its most basic responsibility: the protection of lives and property.
