Nigerian billionaire Matthew Tonlagha has signed a lucrative contract with US lobbying firm Valcour designed to improve Abuja’s relations with Washington, documents seen by AFP on Monday showed.
The Nigerian government has already entered the lobbying fray, with national security chief Nuhu Ribadu in December striking a $750,000-per-month deal with US firm DCI to lobby President Donald Trump’s administration.
The moves come in response to unsubstantiated allegations by Trump in late 2025 that violence in Nigeria amounted to the “persecution” and “genocide” of Christians.
The Nigerian government and independent analysts reject that framing of Nigeria’s myriad, overlapping conflicts, which has long been used by the US religious right.
DCI’s stated role is to help the government in Abuja communicate “its actions to protect … Christian communities and (maintain) US support in countering west African jihadist groups and other destabilising elements”.
Tonlagha’s $120,000-a-month contract with US group Valcour stipulates that for six months, the latter will lobby US media, the Trump administration and US Congress “for the purpose of strengthening the bilateral relationship between the US and Nigeria”.
The contract is published on a US government platform where lobbyists are required to register their ties to foreign governments.
On Christmas Day last year, the US military bombed areas of northwestern Nigeria.
The Nigerian government subsequently said the strikes had targeted Islamic State group fighters, members of the Lakurawa jihadist group and “bandit” gangs.
It is unknown how many fighters may have been killed and from which groups. Local and international journalists have only confirmed damage to farmland and civilian buildings, and injuries among civilians.
Valcour was founded in 2023 by Matt Mowers, who served as a White House adviser in the US State Department during Trump’s first term after advising his election campaign.
Tonlagha is vice-president of Tantita Security, which specialises in protecting oil facilities.
Tantita is owned by Oweizidei Thomas Ekpemupolo, a high-profile former leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).
MEND was created to oppose the appropriation of local oil by foreign companies and the Nigerian government.
In the 2000s, the rebels attacked oil and gas facilities in the oil-rich south and kidnapped workers before a government amnesty was introduced in 2009.
Ekpemupolo was subsequently awarded lucrative contracts with the Nigerian government to protect oil installations.
He is a supporter of President Bola Tinubu, backing his bid for re-election in 2027.
AFP
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