Barely three weeks into the 2027 presidential campaign season, the battle between President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Atiku Abubakar of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has moved beyond Nigeria’s political arena to Washington, where both camps are deploying significant financial resources and lobbying efforts to shape perceptions ahead of the polls.
The high-stakes contest in the United States has opened a fresh front in Nigeria’s presidential race, with Tinubu’s administration and Atiku’s opposition camp seeking to influence policymakers, political stakeholders and the wider international community as they fight for advantage ahead of the 2027 election.
What began with Atiku’s decision to engage a United States lobbying firm to investigate and publicise historical records concerning Tinubu has now escalated into a multimillion-dollar confrontation involving competing lobbying operations, allegations of attempted interference, questions over presidential records and a battle to influence how Nigeria’s political leadership is perceived in the United States.
At the heart of the controversy is Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C., the Washington-based lobbying and policy advisory firm engaged by Atiku in March under a 12-month contract reportedly valued at $1.2 million (about N1.4 billion at N1,200/$).
