Government ministers engage services of international PR firm to counter Atiku's offensive

FEDERAL government ministers have acquired the services of an image-laundering and lobbying firm with offices in the UK and US to undertake outreach and relationship building with various stakeholders.

 

Coming just about a month after former vice president and opposition leader Alhaji Atiku Abubakar  April hired the services of lobbying firm Fein & DelValle to push his case, the latest development is seen as a counter political move. In February, President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Alhaji Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) went head to head in Nigeria's presidential elections.

 

With the election now the subject of a legal battle, the latest move by the government is seen as part of a charm offensive. Founded by a former Justice Department employee, Bruce Fein, Fein & DelValle is expected to help Alhaji Abubakar push narratives that support his challenge of the result of the presidential election among top US politicians.

 

Alhaji Abubakar agreed to pay the lobbying firm $30,000 to cover costs and expenses for the services they are rendering. In response the Buhari administration through the office of the solicitor-general of the federation and the justice ministry agreed to pay another lobbying firm, Pagefield Global, with offices in London and Washington, about N10m monthly.

 

Pagefield Global was hired on May 2 to give public affairs and public relations advice and monitoring, undertaking outreach and relationship building with various stakeholders and the media in connection with legal disputes that the solicitor general is conducting on behalf of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. According to the documents, Pagefield Global will deal directly with Dayo Apata, Nigeria’s solicitor-general.

 

Perhaps in a bid prevent the deal from public scrutiny, the Nigerian government opted for a non-written contract with Pagefield Global where it agreed to pay the lobbying firm a monthly fee of about N10m. Mr Apata denied knowledge of any contract.

 

In its registration statement submitted to the Department of Justice, Pagefield wrote: “There is no written contract between the parties. Our understanding is that we will be paid £21,600 per month by the Federal Republic of Nigeria, on a one month notice period.”

 

This is not the first time the justice ministry will be acquiring the services of a US lobbying firm. In May 2018, the justice minister, Abubakar Malami, hired two American lobbying firms to plant opinion articles favourable to the Buhari administration in American newspapers.

 

The value of the verbal contract, which was done through a Nigerian public relations firm, Channel Koos, was not disclosed. However, Channel Koos was paid $8,000 for helping to hire the two US lobbying firms last year.

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