Despite taboos, political consultants in Nigeria advance democracy

For years, the road from Abuja to Washington has been obstructed by Nigeria’s slow pace of political development. However, less than two months into Muhammadu Buhari’s presidency, relations are starting to smooth over. On Monday, Buhari will visit the White House for one-to-one talks with President Obama, who the State Department said will listen to “any ideas that Nigeria has.” It signals an abrupt improvement that began with Buhari’s unprecedented election this March, an event which revealed the influence of American political consultants abroad.

Politics in Nigeria heated up last year when Buhari launched a campaign that would become the first to unseat an incumbent president in Nigeria’s most mature election to date. That maturity was epitomized by then-President Goodluck Jonathan’s concession call to Buhari before official results were announced. Concession calls might be conventional in America, but in Africa, where examples of incumbent presidents stepping down are rare, they’re still a foreign concept. In fact, the entire election bore similarities to American politics.  

{mosads}Newly competitive elections in Africa’s largest country sparked a frenzy of political activity, including from American consultants who swooped in to develop campaign strategies and swoop up a share of Nigeria’s oil money. These included David Axelrod’s former firm AKPD advising the Buhari campaign and Joe Trippi’s Potomac Square Group advising Jonathan. Though much of their work was cloaked in secrecy, these firms played significant roles in advancing Nigeria’s electoral record.  

AKPD is worthy of special attention due to its connection with Obama and Buhari’s victory. In Lagos, the megacity that Buhari won by 20 points, AKPD’s presence was unmistakable. Posters and billboards covered streets with gleaming images of the opposition candidate, emblazoned with the familiar slogan “Change”. Buhari often spoke of “hope” and consensus issues refined in focus groups, such as corruption reform. Pollsters and grassroots organizers canvassed voters from Lagos’s posh compounds to its slums. Television commercials were expertly produced and, in a country where 70 percent of the population is under 30, the 72 year-old Buhari boasted the social media savvy of a Lagos teenager, with viral Twitter campaigns and his own smartphone app.  

The credibility of Buhari’s election and standards of his campaign did more to restore confidence in Nigerian politics than any event of the past 18 years. Strategy, based on polls rather than tribalism, elevated Buhari’s campaign above an incumbent president entrenched in patronage and a successor to Africa’s “strongman” politics. It also expanded democratic participation by reaching new voters with targeted messaging, key challenges in democracy building.  

Despite its imprint on Nigerian history and Nigeria-American relations, AKPD won’t be touting Buhari’s election in its marketing material, and its website avoids any mention of the country. Advising foreign campaigns is common and lucrative practice for American political consultants. AKPD and Potomac Square have both played prominent roles in UK elections. However, it is considered taboo in countries where democracy is underdeveloped, which can entrap consultants in a hotbed of unrest and controversy. 

In Nigeria for AKPD, the taboos pile up from there.  Running against a Christian, Buhari was the Muslim candidate who once supported Sharia law in a country whose north is beset by Islamist terrorism. Buhari himself is a former military dictator once notorious for his hardline and human rights abuses. AKPD’s ties with the Obama administration could also suggest a conflict of interest, leading the Washington-based think tank Center for Security Policy to accuse the White House of withholding counterterrorism resources to stymie Jonathan’s re-election prospects. Suspicions were abound in Nigeria as well. Neither campaigns would publicly comment on its American connections, and rumors that AKPD consultants were housed in a secretive Lagos estate fueled theories of creeping American imperialism.  

Yet, with proper ethics and due diligence, it is in countries like Nigeria, where politics still stand at the precipice of multiparty democracy, that American consultants can contribute the most to political development. The foreign role of these firms should be recognized as a potential for good, and accepted rather than shunned.

Clyne is an Africa specialist and security analyst for a global risk consulting firm.