The United States lawmaker, Senator Ted Cruz, has said Nigeria’s engagement of a lobbying firm to communicate its actions on protecting Christians in Nigeria to the US government was an attempt to deflect US concerns over the West African country’s security crisis.
This is coming after President Bola Tinubu’s administration hired DCI Group, a US-based public affairs and lobbying firm, in a $9 million contract last December, few months after it was designated a ‘country of particular concern’ by President Donald Trump.
According to the lobbying contract document filed with the US Department of Justice, Aster Legal, a law firm in Kaduna state, hired the services of DCI Group on behalf of Nuhu Ribadu, the national security adviser.
US lawmakers have since introduced several measures, including bills aimed at pressuring the Nigerian government to address the insecurity crisis.
Cruz, who had proposed the ‘Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act of 2025’ in October, a legislation he said would hold Nigerian government officials accountable for “facilitating the mass murder of Christians” reiterated his stance in an X post on Wednesday.
“Nigerian officials have created an environment that facilitates mass violence against Christians and religious minorities by imposing blasphemy and Sharia laws and looking the other way at jihadist atrocities,” he said.
“The U.S. government knows the Nigerian officials responsible for these policies, I have been pushing my bill to sanction them, and President Trump has even ordered military action.
“Instead of responding to American concerns, Nigerian officials waged a public relations campaign against critics. They were confident in that campaign and in their ability to continue the status quo, and I am heartened that the House has just definitively proven them wrong.”
Cruz was speaking in reaction to an amendment bill passed by the US house of representatives that would increase withholding of assistance to Nigeria from 50 percent to 100 percent until the West African nation takes effective steps to prevent and respond to violence within its territory.
Lawmakers agreed to the move with a voice vote last Wednesday. The senator is not the only lawmaker who has criticised Nigeria’s lobbying efforts.
The same month Nigeria hired DCI Group, Matthew Tonlagha, vice-chairman of Tantita Security Services, hired Valcour Global Public Strategy, a Washington-based lobbying firm, for the “purpose of strengthening the bilateral relationship” between the US and Nigeria.
Chris Smith, house foreign affairs Africa subcommittee chairman, said the deals proved that “a culture of denial by Nigerian officials persists”.
