Thursday, July 23, 2026

Tinubu got good bargain from U.S. lobbyists, washing his image should cost more than $2.7 million: Aisha Yesufu

“From certificate forgery to drug dealing — only one person,” she said.

• January 13, 2025
President Bola Tinubu and Aisha Yesufu
President Bola Tinubu and Aisha Yesufu

Social activist Aisha Yesufu says President Bola Tinubu got a bargain after it was revealed that the Nigerian leader paid $2.7 million to U.S. lobbyists to help burnish his image following certificate forgery and drug dealing scandals that marred his early days in office.

“They are actually very cheap — for them to collect only $2.7 million. I would have expected them to collect nothing less than $5 million because his (Tinubu) is really down,” Ms Yesufu while responding to the Peoples Gazette exclusive report on the payment.

The Gazette had last week exclusively reported how Mr Tinubu paid $2.7 million to several public relation experts, including David Spaulding of Lenape Legal, based in a sleepy Philadelphia suburb, to salvage his reputation among decision-makers in Washington.

Ms Aisha argued that the $2.7 million is nowhere enough to clean the image of Mr Tinubu, adding that it is shocking for only one person to be involved in such magnitude of legal issues

“From certificate forgery to drug dealing — only one person,” she said.

The report said that Mr Tinubu deemed the hirings necessary after evaluating the impact widespread coverage of his narcotics and certificate saga had on his prestige before his foreign counterparts.

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