Prince Justice Faloye, President of the ASHE Foundation has raised concerns over the Foreign Aid, Grants and Donations Regulation Bill, 2026 (SB.1034), under Senate consideration, noting that it could be used to stifle dissent and shrink civic space if not justly applied.

Faloye has argued that the bill, meant to grant access for funding of civil society, media and advocacy in Nigeria is long overdue, but warns it must not be used selectively by the same political class that once benefited from foreign-backed campaigns.

Faloye describes the bill as removing the foreign NGO ladder this administration used to climb into power, while contending that the incumbent administration is now pushing to restrict foreign grants, previously relied on Western-backed funding and strategy to win national elections.

“It is an open secret that Western recolonization works through our indoctrinated and empowered and civil society,” Faloye said, adding that “Some in the civil society just take what they believe is free money through foreign Foundations and think tanks, not knowing they are being recruited to influence public opinion and advocacy, and unfairly, influence elections.”

Faloye’s statement goes further, alleging coordinated psychological operations (Psy-Ops) and information warfare conducted through foundations, think tanks and media platforms. He claims some writers, musicians and opinion leaders are “indirectly sponsored by the foreign agency through front companies,” and then moulded to push foreign agendas.

“After making them rich, they craftily mould them to push their agenda without knowing, or threaten to withdraw financial support if they resist due to a pang of conscience of selling out,” he said.

He ties this to a broader critique of how information warfare precedes physical conflict, saying that information war and psychological operations are the greatest wars for the mind, to be won before going to the physical battlefield, and are currently fought through foundations and think tanks.

A central pillar of Faloye’s argument is the role of the Chicago-based Foundation during the 2015 election cycle. He says he “stumbled across” the foundation while researching funding flows and found, it had financed a “$100m corruption propaganda” campaign against a former President under a “Corruption Awareness Program.”

“On its website, it showed it funneled money to most of the big names that vociferously campaigned against alleged Jonathan corruption,” Faloye said.

He suggests some recipients may have acted in good faith, unaware of the larger geopolitical design: “A few might have genuinely thought they were doing the right thing, not knowing they were being used by a foreign government to conduct a democratic coup.”

According to Faloye, the foundation’s focus at the time include Nigeria, some Asian nations and African Americans in the criminal justice system, areas he says raise questions about common strategic interests. He also claims the programme shifted after Jonathan left office, with attention moving to UK media giant whose coverage he says helped elevate figures like Sunday Igboho.

“It stopped the regime change program after nPresident Jonathan left office, not because corruption ended, but its attention switched to sponsoring the UK foreign media that broadcast in indigenous language whose achievement was to make the Yoruba activist go viral. The regulation should cover media both traditional and online. And this conspiring with foreign nations to take power, borders on treason, but the APC government has no moral grounds to accuse them,” he said.

Faloye claims a new US-backed psychological operations programme was launched on July 15, 2026, aimed at influencing African minds. He names it “Drongos,” linking it to a Yoruba concept: “Sekunse aka Omo Oba Dudu,” a black bird that mimics victims’ voices to steal their food.

“If Nigeria is truly independent it must restrict foreign hands fiddling with the minds of its people,” he said.

While welcoming the bill, Faloye cautions against selective enforcement. He invokes a Yoruba proverb: “If you don’t eat yam because of oil, you will eat oil because of yam.”

According to Faloye, this administration being supported by west should not only bar other nations’ foundations while their own sponsors are left to continue our mental slavery, economic and political destabilization and neocolonisation through neoliberalism,” he said.

The Foreign Aid, Grants and Donations Regulation Bill, 2026 seeks to tighten oversight of foreign funding to NGOs, civil society groups and advocacy organisations. Supporters argue it protects national sovereignty; critics warn it could be used to stifle dissent and shrink civic space.

Faloye’s intervention adds a third layer: that the bill is both necessary and morally complicated, given this administration history of foreign-backed political engineering. His statement ends with a call for even-handed application.

“The regulation is welcome, but there is also the issue of whether it would be justly applied,” he stated.