APC Covertly Pays London PR Firm $$$ To Salvage Reputation Over Perceived Tacit Support For Boko Haram

BEVERLY HILLS, CA, July 10, (THEWILL) - Nigeria's main opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), has hired a London, United Kingdom headquartered Public Relations firm to help clear the growing negative perception in the international community and Nigeria that its members are tacitly backing the terrorist group Boko Haram, a radical Islamic cell responsible for several deadly attacks in several Nigerian towns in the North.

Burson-Marsteller, through its Washington DC office, will earn $100, 000 USD (about N16, 700, 000) monthly, according to the contract papers obtained by THEWILL through a source with knowledge of the deal.

According to the document, Ladi Delano, a young US businessman, who allegedly fronts for APC chieftain, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, procured the services of the PR firm on behalf of the political party.

THEWILL recalls that the APC had accused the President Goodluck Jonathan led federal government of wasteful expenditure when it hired Levick, a Washington DC based PR firm, to help manage the negative narrative his administration was suffering in the foreign press following the forceful abduction of about 230 schoolgirls by the Boko Haram.

Burson-Marsteller is expected to help the APC improve its image by developing content and messages for the media whilst also engaging political leaders and officials in both the United States and the United Kingdom on behalf of the party, which lost a state it controls, Ekiti, South West Nigeria, to the PDP in the Governorship election held last month.

The APC had earlier hired David Axelrod's political strategy firm, Chicago based AKPD Media and Messaging, the same firm that helped US President Barack Obama win the US Presidential election for two terms.

The APC, whose main founders are Muslims, is viewed by several pundits as a party for Muslims and northerners in a country that is sharply divided along religious and ethnic lines, as the general elections draws closer.

It is however unclear whether this rebranding effort will help clear this perception.

See the copy of the document below;