The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has faulted reports of an alleged $9 million public relations and lobbying contract between the Federal Government and a United States-based firm, DCI Group, describing the arrangement as defective, deceptive and embarrassing.

In a statement yesterday, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Ini Ememobong, said the contract, reportedly facilitated through Aster Legal, was meant to “assist the Nigerian government in communicating its actions to protect Nigerian Christian communities” and was designed to run for six months with an automatic renewal for another six months.

Ememobong expressed concern that a government with a fully fledged Ministry of Information and a retinue of media aides would resort to engaging a foreign firm to manage its image abroad.

According to him, the move suggested a lack of confidence in the Ministry of Information and the administration’s media machinery, despite being led by what he described as seasoned professionals.

“The revelation is as disturbing as it is shameful,” the PDP spokesman said, adding that the Ministry of Information, under a public relations expert, had in recent years shown “maturity and responsibility” in the management of government information.

The opposition party demanded clarification from the Presidency on several issues, including whether the contract was captured in the 2025 budget; why it was executed through a private law firm rather than the Federal Ministry of Justice; the specific roles of Information and Public Relations officers in Nigeria’s diplomatic missions; and the key performance indicators for the contract.

Ememobong argued that no lobbying or strategic communication firm could substitute for the lived experiences of Nigerians, particularly in an era of instant global information flow.

He maintained that if the administration was keen on improving Nigeria’s image abroad, it should prioritise investments in the security of lives and property rather than what he termed “deceptive communication”.

“The undeniable truth is that Nigerians have not felt this insecure, even during the civil war,” he said, urging President Bola Tinubu to ensure the safety of all citizens, irrespective of religion, and to guarantee freedom of worship while reducing incidents of mass killings.

According to the PDP, genuine improvements in security would naturally shape global perceptions of Nigeria and Nigerians.

The party called on the President to scale back what it described as an appetite for “easy public validation through ephemeral optics” and instead focus on providing sustainable solutions to what it identified as the nation’s foremost challenge of worsening insecurity.