PDP Declares FG’s $9 Million PR Contract to Aster Legal in US Defective and Deceptive

• It’s scandalous, indefensible, says ADC 

•HURIWA infers it’s senseless waste of funds

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has condemned the $9 million public relations contract awarded to Aster Legal for lobbying against allegations of Christians genocide as defective and deceptive.

Also, the African Democratic Congress (ADC), while describing the move as an attempt to launder its image abroad in spite of worsening insecurity and economic hardship, said it was scandalous and indefensible.

At the same time, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has criticised the hiring of lobbyist group to communicate the federal government protection of Christians efforts to the United States as a senseless waste of public funds.

The PDP, which sought further clarification from the presidency on a contract to be renewed every six months, asked to know if the amount was budgeted and why was it done through a private law firm.

The PDP, in a statement by the National Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong, said the news that the Nigerian government has, through Aster Legal, contracted the services of DCI Group (a Public Affairs and lobbying firm) in the United States to “assist the Nigerian government in communicating its actions to protect Nigerian Christian communities…” is defective and deceptive.

‘’This revelation is as disturbing as it is shameful that a government with a full Ministry of Information and a litany of media aides will be paying a foreign firm to launder its image.

‘’This is a clear indication that the president does not have confidence in the Ministry of Information and his media aides, whereas the Ministry of Information is manned by a seasoned professionals led by a Public Relations expert-who has in the last few years exhibited maturity and responsibility in the management of government information.

“Furthermore, we seek clarification from the presidency on the following: Was this contract budgeted for in the 2025 budget? Why was it done through a private law firm and not the Federal Ministry of Justice?

‘’What are the duties of the Information and Public Relations officers in the diplomatic missions abroad? What are the Key Performance Indicators for this contract?’’ the party sought to know.

Additionally, Ememobong, said, “We remind the APC-led federal government that no lobbying or strategic communication firm can create narratives that will replace the lived experiences of the people, in contemporary times, where the world is a global village.

‘’If the Tinubu administration is desirous of changing the perception of the country abroad, it should invest more in the security of lives and property, not in deceptive communication. The undeniable truth is that Nigerians have not felt this insecure, even during the civil war.

‘’The president should be more interested in ensuring that all Nigerians, irrespective of religion, are safe and free to worship God in their chosen way, and that mass killings are reduced to the barest minimum. When these feats are achieved, Nigerians will reflect safety, and that will concomitantly dictate the global perception of Nigerians.

‘’Finally, we call on the president to reduce his administration’s appetite for easy public validation through ephemeral optics and rather concentrate on the hard task of providing sustainable solutions to the nation’s primary challenge – insecurity,’’ the PDP stressed

ADC: It’s Scandalous and Indefensible

The ADC, has condemned the Tinubu administration for approving a $9 million contract for US lobbying services, describing the move as scandalous and indefensible.

The party, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, stated that the expenditure reflected misplaced priorities, especially at a time when thousands of citizens had been killed and millions couldbarely afford basic necessities, arguing that no amount of paid lobbying could mask the government’s failure to protect lives and property.

The ADC 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 spokesman of the ADC, ‘’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 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,’’ Abdullahi stated

HURIWA: It’s Senseless Waste of Funds

HURIWA has criticised the hiring of lobbyist group to communicate the federal government protection of Christians efforts to the United States, describing it as a senseless waste of money

The group further described the hiring of the lobbyists as ‘’as wasteful, hypocritical and a smokescreen.’’

According to a statement by the national coordinator of the human right group, “Even as report emerged that the federal government has hired a lobbying firm in a $9 million contract to assist in communicating its actions on protecting Christians in Nigeria to the United States government, the action has been dismissed as wasteful, hypocritical and a smokescreen.”

HURIWA further said the action has been termed an effort by the top government official to provide job for the boys,which was totally irrelevant and meaningless.

HURIWA said the ‘’action was nonsensical that the same government that denied that Christians were the targets of attacks genocide by armed Islamic terrorists has decided to fritter a huge chunk of public fund on the meaningless venture to explain to the United States of America what the government is doing for Christians which therefore means that truly the government has now accepted the obvious that indeed Christians are targeted in a well coordinated mass killings by Uslamic extremists in the North of Nigeria.’’

Onwubiko said it was agreed that the contract would be for six months until June 30, 2026, and would be automatically renewed for another six months.

HURIWA condemned the contract as  ‘’wasteful gambit of frittering billions of Naira that could have been used to even motivate soldiers waging war on terror in the North of Nigeria.”

The Rights group said it made no sense that the Nigerian government wanted to explain happenings in the country that were already well known and extensively reported on the Internet and aired in several global television stations like BBC, CNN, SkyNews, Aljazeera television all of which have locally based journalists feeding them with happenings in Nigeria.’