Nigeria’s political and business elite are pouring millions of dollars into Washington lobbying as they scramble to counter Donald Trump’s incendiary claims that Christians are facing “persecution” and “genocide” in Africa’s most populous nation.
Documents filed under the US Foreign Agents Registration Act show that Nigerian billionaire Matthew Tonlagha has retained the American firm Valcour in a six‑month, $120,000‑per‑month deal. The firm is tasked with lobbying the Trump administration, members of Congress and major US media outlets “with the aim of strengthening the bilateral relationship between the United States and Nigeria.”
Tonlagha, vice president of Tantita Security, is no stranger to the nexus of oil, security and politics. Tantita guards vital petroleum infrastructure in the Niger Delta and is owned by Oweizidei Thomas Ekpemupolo, better known as Tompolo, a former commander of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta. Once a militant group that bombed pipelines and kidnapped oil workers, MEND laid down arms after a 2009 amnesty, and Tompolo later secured lucrative state contracts to protect the same facilities his fighters once attacked. He is now a vocal supporter of President Bola Tinubu and backs Tinubu’s bid for re‑election in 2027.
Abuja itself has moved aggressively to shape its image in Washington. National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu has signed a separate agreement with the powerful US firm DCI, worth $750,000 per month. According to filings, DCI is mandated to promote Nigeria’s efforts to protect Christian communities and to preserve US backing in the fight against jihadist groups and other “destabilizing elements” across West Africa.
The lobbying blitz follows Trump’s unsubstantiated assertions that violence in Nigeria amounts to a campaign of anti‑Christian extermination. Nigerian officials and independent analysts argue that the country’s bloodshed stems from a tangle of insurgencies, criminal banditry, farmer‑herder clashes and separatist unrest, rather than a state‑driven religious war. They accuse segments of the American religious right of simplifying a complex conflict map into a narrative of Christian victimhood.
Tensions spiked further after US forces carried out airstrikes in northwestern Nigeria on Christmas Day, in operations Nigerian authorities said targeted Islamic State fighters, the jihadist Lakurawa group and armed bandits. Journalists and local residents have so far confirmed only damaged farmland, destroyed civilian structures and wounded villagers, with no clear accounting of militant casualties.
Valcour, founded by former Trump State Department adviser Matt Mowers, now sits at the center of this fraught triangle linking Abuja, the Trump camp and a US audience being courted with competing stories of terror, faith and power.
