Another Nigerian politician joins US lobbying fray as Tinubu sued in federal court

A fourth Nigerian politician has hired a US lobbying firm, bringing total spending on influencing Washington ahead of the 2027 presidential election to more than $11m.

Supporters of serial presidential aspirant Joel Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim hired former Democratic congressman Jim Moran’s Moran Global Strategies on 8 September for $120,000 over six months, according to a newly disclosed lobbying filing. The contract is with the Sierra Leone-based Regional Centre for Governance & Security Policy Initiative, which is providing strategic advice to Olawepo-Hashim.

The US firm will “develop and execute the Washington government relations strategy”, including outreach to Congress and “relevant executive-branch, diplomatic and Africa-policy stakeholders concerned with Nigeria, democratic governance, security, trade and regional stability,” according to the contract.

A businessman and self-described founding member of the leading opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olawepo-Hashim is now running as the 2027 presidential candidate for the centre-right Accord party.

A leadership dispute has left the mid-sized party in turmoil, with one faction declining to field a candidate against incumbent President Bola Ahmed Tinubu despite collecting nomination fees from Olawepo-Hashim. Last week, the Federal High Court in Abuja recognised him as the party’s sole presidential candidate for the 2027 election and ordered that his name be forwarded to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for inclusion on the ballot.

Money talks

Olawepo-Hashim is the fourth Nigerian politician to hire US lobbying muscle in this election cycle.

On 12 December 2025, Nigeria hired the DCI Group for $9m to limit and redirect US outrage over the mass slaughter of Christians. This was followed a month later by a $900,000 contract with BGR Government Affairs.

Opposition leader Atiku Abubakar of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) followed suit on 10 March, hiring Republican lobbyist Karl von Batten of Von Batten-Montague-York for $1.2m to “protect and strengthen the client’s reputational standing in Washington”, according to lobbying records.

And on 1 May, friends and family of jailed opposition politician Nasir El-Rufai hired democracy advocacy firm Vanguard Africa for an amount yet to be determined to bring his case to the attention of US policymakers. The former Tinubu ally was a key architect of the ADC coalition before his 16 February arrest on corruption and money laundering charges stemming from his time as governor of Kaduna State in Nigeria’s Muslim-majority north from 2015 to 2023.

The Nigerian government’s lobbying expenditure appears to be yielding results: while US relations with South Africa continues to deteriorate, Tinubu has largely patched things up with a Trump administration that accused him of enabling a Christian genocide not long ago.

The US signed a minerals deal with Abuja during UN week, while US Secretary of State Rubio marked Independence Day on 1 October with a statement lauding the “great value” that the US places on its “strong bilateral relationship” with Nigeria and its appreciation for the “substantive dialogue undertaken over the past year”.

Court fight

Meanwhile, Atiku’s influence campaign has moved to the US courts.

Initially, Von Batten attached himself to a US public-records lawsuit over a 1990s drug investigation that linked Tinubu’s bank accounts to funds allegedly derived from heroin trafficking. The US seized $460,000 from accounts tied to Tinubu in a 1993 civil forfeiture case, but never brought criminal charges against him.

Despite Von Batten’s very public attempts to draw the Trump administration’s attention to the case, the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) told the US District Court for the District of Columbia on 23 September that further public disclosures would put confidential sources and methods at risk.

“Both the FBI and DEA performed adequate and reasonable searches for responsive records, processed all such records, and released all reasonably segregable non-exempt information from the documents responsive to Plaintiff’s FOIA requests that are subject to FOIA,” the agencies’ lawyers said, referring to the Freedom of Information Act request.

Nigerian officials and the DCI have also hit back at Von Batten. Their responses included unproven allegations that he is a convicted felon and accusations that he misled Atiku by exaggerating his influence with the Trump administration.

On 28 September, the Nigerian-American lobbyist filed a lawsuit against Tinubu, Nigeria’s new ambassador to South Africa, Femi Fani-Kayode, and the DCI Group.

The suit accuses them of defamation and threats of “detention, kidnapping and physical harm” and was precipitated by a 20 September post on X by Fani-Kayode, a long-time politician known for his combative politics and fiery rhetoric.

“One day you will come home and be rest assured that when you do I will meet you at the airport and give you a befitting welcome for what will be a very long holiday,” Fani-Kayode said in response to Von Batten. “Can’t wait!” (The Africa Report)