Nnamdi Kanu hires US lobbying firm to help promote Ipob's cause in Washington

INDIGENOUS People of Biafra (Ipob) leader Nnamdi Kanu has engaged the services of a US lobbying firm to help win him political support in Washington for his secessionist cause at a whopping cost of $750,000.

Since President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office in 2015, agitations for the recreation of the defunct state of Biafra which existed briefly between July 1967 and January 1970, have grown. Ipob has grown as a result of this agitation, with Mr Nnamdi becoming a prominent international figure, getting prosecuted for treason in Nigeria.

Ipob spokesman Emma Powerful, said: "Yes, it’s true we hired another lobbying group in USA to facilitate the coming and recognition of Biafra independence, we engaged them with the wholesome amount of N300m about $750,000 to lobby for Biafra freedom in America and the whole world.”

This one-year deal with the BW Global Group  is slated to run for 12 months at the cost of $750,000, which is over N300m. The firm, co-owned by Jeffrey Birrel and Alan White, is registered in Washington DC, the US capital.

Taking effect from March 1, the agreement came months after an earlier one struck by Kanu with another US lobbying firm Mercury Public Affairs, expired. Under the old contract, Ipob paid $85,000 per month starting on September 23, 2019, in addition to a $5,000 one-off compliance fee.