Drawing parallels with Nigeria’s past, Ejimakor warned that the development echoed events that preceded the Nigerian civil war.
Legal consultant to Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Barrister Aloy Ejimakor, has condemned what he described as a “treasonous” effort by the Nigerian government, allegedly costing $9 million in Washington, DC, United States of America, and aimed at scapegoating the people of Nigeria’s South-East region (Igbos).
Ejimakor warned that such actions deepen feelings of insecurity and exclusion among Igbo people in Nigeria.
In a post shared on his verified X (formerly Twitter) account on Thursday, Ejimakor said the reported expenditure to influence narratives against the Igbos was dangerous and historically reminiscent.
“The $9 million being spent in Washington, D.C., to scapegoat Ndigbo is treasonous, and it underscores why Ndigbo continue to feel unsafe and unwanted in Nigeria,” he wrote.
Drawing parallels with Nigeria’s past, Ejimakor warned that the development echoed events that preceded the Nigerian civil war.
“The same wicked script played out in 1967 when the Igbos were first scapegoated by the media before the slaughter followed. Never again!” he added.
Ejimakor’s comments come amid longstanding concerns by Igbos, some Igbo leaders, and rights advocates over marginalisation, profiling, and security challenges facing people from the South-East region.
SaharaReporters on January 14, 2026, reported that President Bola Tinubu’s administration approved a controversial $9 million lobbying contract with a Republican-linked firm in Washington as it seeks to placate United States President, Donald Trump, and stave off further military actions and diplomatic measures that could undermine Nigeria’s international standing and the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2027 elections.
According to an investigative report published by The Africa Report, Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, facilitated the engagement of the U.S. lobbying firm, DCI Group, through a Kaduna-based law firm, Aster Legal.
The contract is aimed at persuading the Trump administration and key U.S. lawmakers that Nigeria is taking concrete steps to address insecurity, particularly the killings of Christians in the country’s northern region.
U.S. Department of Justice filings cited in the report show that the Tinubu administration paid DCI Group an initial $4.5 million tranche on December 12, 2025.
The payment serves as a six-month retainer, with a second $4.5 million instalment due by July 2026, bringing the total value of the deal to $9 million, or $750,000 per month, one of the most expensive lobbying contracts ever signed by an African government.
The filings stated that DCI Group was hired to assist the Nigerian government in communicating its actions to protect Nigeria’s Christian communities and maintaining U.S. support in countering West African jihadist groups and other destabilising elements.
The agreement bears the signatures of Aster Legal’s Managing Director, Oyetunji Olalekan Teslim, and DCI Group’s Managing Partner, Justin Peterson, a prominent Republican strategist and close ally of President Trump who previously served on Puerto Rico’s fiscal management board during Trump’s first term in office.
The contract was finalised just weeks after President Trump redesignated Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” over what he described as the Nigerian government’s failure to stop widespread and unchecked killings of Christians.
Four days after the lobbying deal was sealed, the U.S. imposed a partial travel ban on Nigerians, affecting tourist, business and student visa applicants.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration cited high visa overstay rates and the absence of what it called a reliable Nigerian security framework for vetting travellers.
Tensions escalated further on December 25, 2025, when President Trump announced that U.S. forces had carried out a military airstrike in northern Nigeria, specifically in Sokoto State, targeting suspected insurgent hideouts.
Trump later warned that additional strikes would follow if the Nigerian government failed to halt the violence against Christian communities.
Beyond DCI Group, Nigeria has also deployed other lobbying channels in Washington.
Justice Department records reveal that U.S. attorney and former congressional foreign policy official Johanna Blanc declared receiving a $5,000 payment to draft a letter addressed to Congressman Chris Smith, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, ahead of a congressional hearing on Nigeria’s worsening insecurity.
While the filings listed Ms Blanc as working under Nigeria’s Ministry of Finance, she clarified that the letter was written on behalf of Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
In the correspondence, Akpabio extended an invitation to members of the U.S. House subcommittee to visit Nigeria.
But while the $9 million lobbying contract is said to be meant to seek to placate President Trump, stave off further military actions, and persuade the Trump administration and key U.S. lawmakers that Nigeria is taking concrete steps to address insecurity, particularly the killings of Christians in the country’s northern region, some people of Igbo extraction, including Ejimakor believe otherwise.
Like Ejimakor, some southeasterners are alleging that the money is meant to lobby propaganda against the Igbos and change the narrative of the alleged Christian genocide against them, starting from the reports by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), said to have been the igniting factor for the U.S. military actions in Nigeria.
Ejimakor had berated the Nigerian government over its inconsistent and embarrassing claims on the recent United States military airstrike in Sokoto State, accusing the Tinubu government of paying lobbyists $9 million to the shift source of the U.S. airstrikes to "Screwdriver Salesman".
Ejimakor was reacting to trending reports which originated from The New York Times, which accused an Onitsha-based “screwdriver” salesman and founder of the Intersociety, Emeka Umeagbalasi, of publishing unverified claims on Christian genocide in Nigeria, which led to the U.S. military strikes.