Months before candidates are legally permitted to solicit votes, the country’s leading presidential candidates have intensified a high-stakes international influence campaign, deploying Washington lobbyists, diplomatic channels and competing narratives in an effort to shape global opinion, court influential foreign stakeholders and gain strategic advantage ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
Although the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) fixed August 19, 2026, for the commencement of campaigns for the presidential and National Assembly elections, the race for Aso Rock has since begun, and already spilling beyond Nigeria’s borders.
The latest developments underscore how Nigeria’s 2027 presidential contest is increasingly being fought at home for the votes of Nigerians and abroad for international legitimacy, credibility and diplomatic leverage.
The latest episode centres on Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), whose Washington-based lobbying firm, Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C., disclosed that it has begun distributing records relating to President Bola Ahmed
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