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Tinubu’s $9million lobby deal in jeopardy *Group goes after US firm
The Federal Government may find itself in a quandary if the proposal for punishment against the company handling its $9million contract to blunt the sharp edges of United States offensive against Nigeria over alleged persecution of Christians, sails through.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), in a report on Wednesday, sought to target companies like Washington-based DCI Group, contracted by the Nigerian government to get Washington soften its position after President Donald Trump designated Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), in 2025.
CPC, is the State Department’s designation for the worst violators of religious freedom, a loop, which the country fell into for allegedly tolerating systematic and ongoing violations of religious freedom.
The proposal targeting lobbying efforts aimed at softening U.S policy toward those governments, urged US Congress to bar individuals lobbying on behalf of foreign governments Washington had blacklisted for severe religious freedom violations from receiving payment for such services.
The pitch is part of the report the group released, to US lawmakers, which also contained a damning verdict delivered against Nigeria following allegations that both the police and military personnel are aiding terrorists to attack Christians.
The latest proposal, part of a broader effort aimed at making religious freedom a core pillar of U.S foreign policy under the Trump’s administration, comes amid parallel lobbying efforts by the federal government and opposition figures in Nigeria to shape US policy and perception, ahead of the 2027 elections.
Nigerian political actors across the government and opposition have stepped up spending on US lobbying firms, filing contracts under the Foreign Agents Registration Act to influence Washington on security, trade and political messaging.
Early this year, the Federal Government contracted Washington-based DCI Group in a $9 million agreement to communicate its efforts to protect Christian communities and counter what it called misinformation about religious violence.
The deal, executed on December 17, 2025, through Aster Legal on behalf of National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, runs for six months through June 30, 2026, with an automatic renewal clause.
Nigeria paid a $4.5 million retainer on December, 2025, with the same amount due for the second half of the contract. The arrangement covers $750,000 monthly payment for professional services and expenses.
DCI Group’s mandate includes engaging US officials on Nigeria’s counter-terrorism operations and its handling of religiously motivated violence, with the stated goal of sustaining US support in the fight against jihadist groups in West Africa.
Similarly, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar engaged Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C. in a 12-month, $1.2 million deal signed March 10, 2026, and registered with the DOJ’s FARA Unit on April 1, 2026.
The firm was tasked with providing strategic advisory, congressional and executive branch engagement, and reputational management.
Objectives outlined in the filing include advancing understanding of Atiku’s leadership vision, strengthening his reputation in Washington, and countering narratives from incumbent Nigerian authorities.
The commission further urged Congress to authorise individuals legally residing in the U.S to sponsor relatives from persecuted and religious minority groups for resettlement in the country.
It enjoined the lawmakers to fund efforts addressing the humanitarian fallout of religious persecution, including “large populations displaced by religious persecution, including in refugee and internally displaced person, IDP, camps in countries such as Bangladesh, Iraq, Nigeria, and Sudan.”
It said the funding would cover education, healthcare, and other lifesaving initiatives.
The commission prescribed a full accounting of U.S. foreign assistance to CPC and SWL countries, including Nigeria and Sudan, “to determine whether such assistance supports or hinders efforts to advance religious freedom.”
On the executive side, the commission urged the administration to prioritise religious freedom in foreign policy and assistance programmes, and advocated release of prisoners of faith.
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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