Diaspora Group Condemns Atiku's Washington Lobbying Push Against Tinubu

The Nigerians in Diaspora Monitoring Group, a U.S.-based organization, has publicly denounced what it characterizes as a coordinated effort by former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar to mount a lobbying campaign against President Bola Tinubu in Washington. According to a statement released Sunday by the group's president, Daniel Cosmas, the initiative represents an attempt to weaponize Nigeria's domestic political competition on the international stage, potentially damaging the nation's reputation abroad.

The diaspora group's central complaint centers on how decades-old American legal documents are being presented to foreign audiences. Multiple sources indicate that the organization alleges a civil forfeiture case is being mischaracterized as a criminal conviction in the lobbying effort.

The group argued that this misrepresentation of historical legal proceedings from the United States constitutes a distortion of fact being used to influence international opinion against the sitting president. The criticism extends beyond the substance of the campaign to the strategy itself.

The monitoring group characterized the use of foreign lobbying infrastructure to settle domestic political scores as an embarrassment to Nigeria on the world stage. Cosmas's statement emphasized that opposition figures should direct their energies toward domestic governance challenges rather than seeking external intervention to undermine an elected leader.

The controversy emerges as Nigeria approaches its 2027 general elections, a period typically marked by intensified political positioning among opposition figures. The NDMG statement suggests this lobbying initiative represents a departure from traditional domestic political contestation, introducing international dimension to disagreements that historically remain internal affairs.

No formal response from Atiku Abubakar's camp has been reported in the available statements from these sources.