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  • Trump says summit with North Korea can still hold

    U.S. President Donald Trump said that the much anticipated meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un could still go ahead on June 12.

    Trump told reporters at the White House: “We’re going to see what happens. It could even be the 12th”, referring to the original date set for the meeting in Singapore.

    “We’re talking to them now. They very much want to do it. We’d like to do it. We’ll see what happens.”

    In a tweet later, the president welcomed North Korea’s latest statement on the talks as “very good news,” following Trump’s announcement on Thursday cancelling the meeting.

    Trump, also tweeted: “Very good news to receive the warm and productive statement from North Korea. We will soon see where it will lead, hopefully to long and enduring prosperity and peace. Only time (and talent) will tell!”

    Trump had cancelled the planned summit with Kim, citing the “tremendous anger and open hostility” in a recent statement from North Korea.

    It came on a day that North Korea dismantled its nuclear bomb testing site, in the presence of some invited journalists

    Trump said in a letter to Kim released on Thursday by the White House that based on the statement, he felt it was “inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting.”

    The president said the North Koreans talk about their nuclear capabilities, “but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used.”

    In a statement released by North Korean media on Thursday, Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui had called U.S. Vice President Mike Pence a “political dummy” for comparing North Korea – a “nuclear weapons state” – to Libya, where Gaddafi gave up his unfinished nuclear development programme, only to be later killed by NATO-backed fighters.

    “It is to be underlined, however, that in order not to follow in Libya’s footstep, we paid a heavy price to build up our powerful and reliable strength that can defend ourselves and safeguard peace and security in the Korean peninsula and the region.

    “We will neither beg the U.S. for dialogue nor take the trouble to persuade them if they do not want to sit together with us,” Choe said.

    However, a top North Korean official issued a statement on Friday, expressing the regime’s “willingness” to sit down for a summit with the U.S. administration.

    “We express our willingness to sit down face-to-face with the U.S. and resolve issues anytime and in any format,” North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan said.

    “Our commitment to doing our best for the sake of peace and stability for the world and the Korean Peninsula remains unchanged, and we are open-minded in giving time and opportunity to the U.S.,” he said.

  • Trump cancels meeting with North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un

    U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday called off his planned June 12 summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in a letter released by the White House.

    Referring to a scheduled June 12 meeting with Kim in Singapore, Trump said in a letter to the North Korean leader:

    “Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it would be inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting.”

    Trump called it “a missed opportunity” and said he still hoped to meet Kim someday.

    The North Korean mission to the UN did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s cancellation of the summit.

    U.S. stocks dropped sharply on the news, with the benchmark S&P 500 Index falling more than half a percent in about 10 minutes. Investors turned to U.S. Treasury debt as a safe alternative, driving the yield on the 10-year note, which moves inversely to its price, down to a 10-day low and back below the psychologically important 3 percent level.

    The U.S. dollar also weakened broadly, particularly against the Japanese yen, which climbed to a two-week high against the greenback.

    “Please let this letter serve to represent that the Singapore summit, for the good of both parties, but to the detriment of the world, will not take place,” Trump wrote.

    “You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God that they will never have to be used,” he said.

    Earlier on Thursday, North Korea repeated a threat to pull out of the summit with Trump next month and warned it was prepared for a nuclear showdown with Washington if necessary.

    North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons has been a source of tension on the Korean peninsula for decades, as well as antagonism with Washington.

    The rhetoric reached new heights under Trump as he mocked Kim as “little rocket man” and in address at the UN threatened to “totally destroy” North Korea if necessary.

    Kim had called Trump mentally deranged and threatened to “tame” him with fire.

    Kim rarely leaves North Korea and his willingness to meet and Trump’s acceptance sparked hope but it had faded in recent days.

    In a statement released by North Korean media, Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui had called U.S. Vice President Mike Pence a “political dummy” for comparing North Korea – a “nuclear weapons state” – to Libya, where Muammar Gaddafi gave up his unfinished nuclear development programme, only to be later killed by NATO-backed fighters.

    “Whether the U.S. will meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown is entirely dependent upon the decision and behaviour of the United States,” Choe said.

    A small group of international media selected by North Korea witnessed the demolition of tunnels at the Punggye-ri site on Thursday, which Pyongyang says is proof of its commitment to end nuclear testing.

    The apparent destruction of what North Korea says is its only nuclear test site has been widely welcomed as a positive, if largely symbolic, step toward resolving tension over its weapons.

    North Korean leader Kim has declared his nuclear force complete, amid speculation the site was obsolete anyway.

    Cancellation of what would have been the first ever summit between a serving U.S president and a North Korean leader denies Trump what supporters hoped could have been the biggest diplomatic achievement of his presidency, and one worthy of a Nobel Prize.

    “I felt a wonderful dialogue was building between you and me, and ultimately it is only that dialogue that matters,” Trump said in his letter to Kim.

    “Some day, I look very much forward to meeting you.”

  • BREAKING: Trump receives three Americans freed by North Korea

    BREAKING: Trump receives three Americans freed by North Korea

    President Donald Trump on Thursday welcomed three Americans freed from North Korea back to the United States soil.

    Kim Dong Chul, Kim Hak-Song and Tony Kim arrived at Joint Base Andrews military airfield in Washington at about 7:42 a.m. Nigerian time on a U.S. military medical plane.

    They arrived shortly after Mike Pompeo, the U.S. Secretary of State who secured their release from North Korea on Wednesday, arrived on a separate plane.

    The men were seized from 2015 to 2017 and accused of several offenses that they allegedly contravened North Korean laws and sentenced to several years’ imprisonment with hard labour. But they had all traveled on humanitarian missions.

    Mr Trump announced their release in a Twitter update Wednesday, saying: “I am pleased to inform you that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in the air and on his way back from North Korea with the 3 wonderful gentlemen that everyone is looking so forward to meeting. They seem to be in good health.”

    The development comes as Mr Trump prepares to meet Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, in an ongoing effort to end the decades-old acrimony between North and South Korea. The venue of the historic meeting is currently still being weighed by Mr Trump, the American president said on Wednesday.

  • BREAKING: Trump pulls U.S. from Iran nuclear deal

    President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he was reimposing economic sanctions on Iran and pulling the United States out of an international agreement aimed at stopping Tehran from obtaining a nuclear bomb.

    The decision is likely to raise the risk of conflict in the Middle East, upset America’s European allies and disrupt global oil supplies.

    Details soon..

  • Presidency highlights benefits of Buhari, Trump meeting, slams critics

    The presidency on Thursday lambasted critics for faulting President Muhammadu Buhari’s performance during his visit to the United States President, Donald Trump on Monday.

    The Presidency scored the visit high, saying the President was satisfied with its outcome.

    In a statement, Senior Special Assistant (Media and Publicity) Mallam Garba Shehu said the President got all he wanted from the U.S. government.

    While the statement did not specify or mention names of critics, it was obvious it was a rejoinder to earlier statements by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and others who had condemned the trip.

    Recall that the PDP and some individuals are among those that condemned the visit.

    In a statement on Wednesday, Obasanjo dismissed the trip, saying: “For whatever the meeting (between President Buhari and U.S. President Donald Trump) was worth, President Buhari again bungled another opportunity to self-redeem.”

    But in the statement titled: “Takeaways from the auspicious meeting between Presidents Muhammadu Buhari and Donald Trump,” Shehu said the visit would strengthen ties between both countries.

    Shehu said his write up was informed by the position of “the opponents of this administration, who have prayed and prayed very hard that our President in the course of his historic visit to the White House on Monday, April 30, 2018, would stumble badly or come back with nothing.”

    He added: “President Buhari, to the disappointment of this group, delivered a calm, brilliant performance. He refused to be provoked and did not get angry at the taunting. He instead turned his attention to the task at hand and at the end, came home satisfied that he got everything he wanted from the US administration.

    “The Rose Garden worked out very much for him as a routine engagement, certainly not like the make-or-break meeting as some wanted it to be.”

    Shehu went on: “It is also important that records be set straight to counter the mischief of opponents, some of whom have started rendering false narratives of a meeting to which they were neither invited nor in any way aware of its details.

    “The meeting of the two leaders happened in three phases. First, the one-on-one in which only the two of them were present. Then they had a working lunch, each leader accompanied by 10 top officials. President Buhari had with him the governors of Ogun and Plateau; the ministers of Foreign Affairs, Justice, Industry, Trade and Investment; the chairpersons of Senate and House of Representatives committees on international relations; the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, NIA; the Chief of Defence Staff and Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United States.

    “The US President had more-or-less the same representation, except that the Secretary of State who just got cleared for the job by the Senate hadn’t assumed office, so he was represented by the Deputy Secretary of State.

    “President Trump also brought with him the Director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) which I must emphasise, is significant to Nigeria given the fact that the U.S. remains the largest contributor to the on-going effort to reconstruct the Northeast and resettle its millions of displaced persons.

    “The third engagement involving the two leaders was the joint press conference by the leaders, aired live by some major television networks across the world.”

    According to Shehu, the two leaders got on very well with each other. They also shared a common respect for each other. Some key remarks made by President Trump on our President sum this up. He said President Buhari ‘is a rare leader’; he said ‘I respect him a lot’ and said our leader had ‘succeeded in cutting down corruption’. He called President Buhari a ‘valued partner’ and a ‘strong democrat’.

    On the gains of the meeting, Shehu wrote: “The two parties had agreed before the meeting that discussions will be on three key issues, namely security/counter terrorism, trade, and development of democracy in Nigeria.

    “On security, the Nigerian delegation was pleased from the onset that the Trump administration had agreed to the major sale of military equipment to Nigeria. Team Nigeria was equally pleased about the much-increased role of the US in assisting the efforts to defeat terrorism in Nigeria and the Lake Chad region in general.

    “The President expressed appreciation for these and requested additional support to counter insurgency.

    “On the specific issue of the sale of the 12 Super Tucano A-29 warplanes and weapons to Nigeria to effectively fight terrorism, President Buhari told his American counterpart that we are pleased with this, but want delivery to be fast-tracked, given the security situation in the country.

    “Expectedly, President Trump said yes to this, and, additionally promised the sale of helicopters and about just everything President Buhari wanted.

    “Still on President Buhari’s meeting with Trump, it is important to explain the context of the remarks by President Trump where he was quoted as saying the U.S is concerned about the murder or killing, as he put it, of Christians. At the press conference, President Trump, towards the end of his remarks, mentioned the protection of ‘innocent civilians of all faiths, including Muslims and Christians’, which reporters left out.”

    Shehu said: “In his remarks, the US President neither chided nor talked down on President Buhari. Saying that ‘we will do something about that,’ is a clear expression of willingness to support Nigeria to bring to an end the unwanted killings. This is contrary to the press reporting which jumped on the issue, conveying a wrong impression that President Trump was only concerned about the lives of Christians. He mentioned Muslim lives as well.

    ”Equally wrong was the hasty condemnation of the U.S. President by some Muslim groups in the country without the benefit of a full view and understanding of what was said and the context in which it was said.

    “The President also conveyed the country’s appreciation for the U.S. support for the humanitarian situation in the Northeast, with a contribution of 500 million US Dollars in cash and in-kind contributions, the highest by anyone, through the United Nations and other inter-governmental organisations.

    ”But the scope of work to be done is larger than anyone had envisaged and Nigeria wanted the US to do more. President Trump didn’t say no, only that he wanted more access to the Nigerian market for their agricultural goods.

    “For a country which we assist with USD 1 billion dollars every year, you must do more to open the market to us,” Trump said. These are matters to be debated and resolved.

    “This leads us to the next important issue- Trade. Pointedly, President Trump did not mince words when he said: ‘‘President Buhari has also taken several steps to fight corruption and improve the Nigerian business climate. And most of all to me — and again — is ripping down those trade barriers. These measures will make it easier for Nigeria and the United States companies to invest. And we will be investing substantially in Nigeria if they can create that level playing field that we have to very much ask for, and maybe demand.

    “With the blessing of the two leaders, assets recovery is also getting a major boost. The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, was directed to sit down with Jeff Sessions, his US counterpart, to have a roadmap for the recovery of USD 500 million of Nigerian stolen assets hidden in the US. They will also finalise on the return of USD 1 million of the Diepreye Alamieyeseigha loot.

    “Immediately after the bilateral engagement, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Geoffrey Onyeama and Minister of Justice, Malami, met with their U.S. counterparts. In the months ahead, the Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah, will also meet with his U.S. counterpart, Wilbur Ross.

    “When he was asked if Nigeria had succeeded in getting America to buy more of our oil, President Buhari said he did not. We have others buying our oil. Must we sell to a particular buyer?

    “This government will smartly work with the current American government, knowing that American interests are not always ours, as a strategic partner on security, anti-corruption economic growth and job creation.”

  • JUST IN: Why Buhari is yet to return to Nigeria after meeting Trump – Presidency

    JUST IN: Why Buhari is yet to return to Nigeria after meeting Trump – Presidency

    The Presidency on Thursday explained why President Muhammadu Buhari was yet to arrive Nigeria after meeting with his United States counterpart, Donald Trump on Monday.

    Recall that the president left the shores of the country on Saturday to honour the invitation of President Donald Trump.

    The meeting was held on Monday and the president was expected back in the country on Tuesday.

    However, the president is yet to return back to the country since then.

    Explaining why the president stayed longer than expected, presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu said the president had to stop over in London on his way back from the United States for technical reasons.

    The spokesman also explained that the president’s main aircraft is under repairs and he had to use a smaller jet.

    “The big jet is under repair. It has been taken for major repairs. So the president is using a small plane and there is a limit to the distance the small plane can cover,” he said in response to inquiries by State House correspondents.

    Shehu also said the “technical stopover I talked about is that the journey from U.S. to Abuja is broken into two.

    “Technical stopover is that the plane stops at a point, refuel, do some checks and then proceed on the journey,” he said.

    Shehu said such stopover is “very normal” adding “there is nothing unusual about it.”

    He added that Buhari is already on his way back to Abuja.

    “It is a routine thing. The plane can do Abuja-Washington, that’s about 12 hours and the maximum the plane can fly is 12 hours, 40 minutes. But you don’t need to push it to the edge,” he said.

     

  • CAN lauds Trump, asks Buhari to ‘Sit Up’

    CAN lauds Trump, asks Buhari to ‘Sit Up’

    The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) says the comment of the United States President, Donald Trump, on the killings in Nigeria was the right thing and a wake-up call to President Muhammadu Buhari.

    During his meeting with Buhari at the White House on Monday, Trump described the killing of Christians in Nigeria as a serious problem.

    “We have had very serious problems with Christians who are being murdered in Nigeria, we are going to be working on that problem very, very hard because we cannot allow that to happen,” Trump said.

    And in its reaction, CAN said Trump hit the nail on its head, saying the Republican president told Buhari the right thing.

    Spokesman for CAN President, Pastor Bayo Oladeji, called on the Buhari administration to address the killings in the country.

    “We are happy that President Trump has told President Buhari the right thing to do. We hope and believe President Buhari would do the right thing and sit up. He has to sit up,” he said.

    “Every time we tell them Christians are being killed, they don’t want to listen, but that is the truth. If the President cannot protect Christians, we have two options, we fight back. The law of the land permits self-defence. Secondly, come 2019, we vote him out. If he says there is nothing Christians can do, let him dare us.”

  • Why I kept shut on Trump’s ‘Africa-is-shithole’ comment

    President Muhammadu Buhari, Monday, said he did not bring up President Donald Trump’s alleged shithole remark about African countries when the two presidents met because he was not sure he actually made the comment.

    Buhari said this at the press conference with Trump at the Rose Garden at the White House.

    He said, “I am not sure about the validity or whether that allegation against the President was true or not, so the best thing to do for me is to keep quiet.”

    Trump came under fire early in the year after he reportedly called some African countries ‘shithole’ at a private White House meeting on January 12.

    The US leader, however, denied making the comment and labelled his accusers as fake news peddlers.

  • Donald Trump’s only option on Buhari & Nigeria

    Yesterday, far away in Washington, United States of America, President Donald Trump told President Muhammadu Buhari that Americans are not happy with Nigeria under the latter’s watch, and the reason being the massive killing of Nigerian Christians by Jihadists’ Fulani Herdsmen.

    What was not too clear from Trumps statement however was the quarter he directed the Americans’ unpleasantness to – is it to President Buhari who reigns and rules in Nigeria or to Nigerians; who are being slaughtered daily all across the country? We shall answer this question later but for now, let us deal with Donald Trump’s statement.

    “We’ve had serious problems with Christians who have been murdered, killed,” Trump said, apparently referring to one of the most recent attacks on April 24 on a Church in Benue State of Nigeria, where 18 people, including two priests, were murdered. “We’re going to work on that problem and working on that problem very, very hard,” Trump said, but not without asking President Buhari to ensure the release of the abducted Dapchi School girl, Leah Sharibu; being a Christian and the only one still being held in captivity by Boko Haram because of her faith.

    What Donald Trump may not have known, while advising Muhammadu Buhari on this issue, is the character of his guest in some areas of life or what l will call his true idiosyncrasy. Buhari is a man that prosecutes his drawn-up agenda with ferocious tenacity. It does not matter what the agenda is all about, either for evil or for good, he has that passion of dedication to carry out every of his plans with unequaled strength of character. This is one aspect of the man not known to Donald Trump. Yet, there is another aspect of the man that is even trickier.

    Unlike Donald Trump, Muhammadu Buhari is shrewd in keeping what he intends doing secretly to his chest at all times. While Trump would announce what he intends doing loudly enough before arriving the point of execution, Buhari would never divulge his intentions to any other person except a very few that comes within his blood linage. And this is even of recent; a situation that is prompted by his failing health. Here is a man that could hold his thought far away from his own wife as long as the thinking is not “for the other room”. There few more we can mention here for the purpose of this exercise.

    Donald Trump says everything he sees or hears. He is a “play boy” at most times which sometimes weighs him higher than late President Ronald Reagan; who was himself a distinguished actor of great fame. In the other hand, Muhammadu Buhari, being a typical military-politician, does not disseminate his spoils but instead bury them solidly only to be exhumed for use against raging foe. The only similarity between both men at this juncture of analogy is the ruthlessness and brutality of pounding on their foes – either real or imaginary.

    There is one more thing that needs to be quickly said about these two men. Both of them are typically shrewd businessmen of the highest order. The only difference here is that while one [Trump] flouts his style of business around the world the other one [Buhari] secretly ploughs his trade of herds without too many people coming to know the balances of his books in this “profit and loss” page. Two of them are ruthless in protecting their business’ empires.

    It is for these reasons that Donald Trump would have smiled to bed that he has swayed Buhari’s thought to preserve Nigerian Christians from untimely and brutal death in the hands of the Fulani herdsmen. Of course, Buhari gentleman’s demeanour at most times does not betray what he wants to do, mostly in the “other way round.” As such, Trump did not know that the man he spoke to in the White House is not the same man that operates the deadly [made so deadly by the President and his chosen “Ali Baba ten thieves”] Aso Rock Villa in Abuja.

    Donald Trump did not know too much of those killings that are going on in this “shithole” county on daily basis because if he had known, he would not have sold those A-29 Super Tucano Aircrafts to Buhari’s Nigeria.

    Though the lure of almost US$600 Million which is to be made from the deal is great but not enough for Obama’s America to venture into such deal and this is maybe, for the reason of what President Barack Obama knew of the likely use those instruments of wars would be put into, beyond just fighting Boko Haram insurgence. Retired Lt-Gen T.Y. Danjuma, a business mogul per excellence and a former Chief of Army Staff revealed very recently that the Nigerian Armed Forces gives protection to those killing people all over Nigeria” hence his call for “self-defense”. We pray that President Buhari never deploy these ferocious Tucano Aircrafts to hunt fellow Nigerians under the pretense of fighting insurgents in the future.

    The topic is not about the mathematics of the American military hardware sales to the Nigerian Government but it is more about what option is left for Donald Trump in his chosen voyage of either helping the Nigerian people; mostly those that “are waiting to be killed by Militia Herdsmen of Fulani origin” or the ruler who might be killing them.

    Permit me to clear something on the usage of the word “Fulani origin”. By saying that the killers are Militia Herdsmen of Fulani Origin does not imply that these Fulani killers are necessarily those Fulani Nigerian origins only. The Fulani tribe spread widely beyond the borders of Nigeria into Niger, Chad, Cameroon Republics and even the Islamic Republic of Libya [going by the recent revelation of President Buhari].

    There are more killing of Nigerians than President Trump knew about as of yesterday when he advised President Buhari to stop the killing of Christians and to bring back the only girl from Dapchi; Leah Sharibu, who is still being held in Boko Haram’s captivity for no other reason than being a Christian. Until the man; Donald Trump, knows the exact thing that is going on in Nigeria, he would be at dilemma in choosing whom and who to help between the Nigerian President and the Nigerian people. It is very essential for the demarcation to be made because too often, the interest of a State-Nation has been mistakenly presented to cover or being same with the interest of the Head of that State’s government. That was the situation France found itself under the rule of King Louis X1V, between September 1638 and September 1715. It was he who made the statement “I am the State”.

    We have a responsibility therefore to help Donald Trump to help us in Nigeria by making facts of our lives under the presidency of Buhari known to him. Otherwise, he might be equating helping President Buhari to helping us, the Nigerian people. He needs to know the following therefore.

    One, just this last Saturday April 28, 2018, eight people were reported killed while scores were injured in a fresh herdsmen attack in Benue State. This happened in Agagbe Community, Sengev, Gwer West local government area of the State. According to the story, the marauding herdsmen resorted to sacking the community after their entreaty to be allowed into the community with their cattle to graze was turned down by the youths and elders of the area.

    “They had few days ago sent emissaries to the village to be allowed entry into the village to graze their cows but the people refused. Shortly after, the herders were seen with thousands of cow trying to enter the village which the people resisted. They later came back and claimed that their cows had been killed but the people insisted that there was nothing like that”, saying “it was a ploy by the herders to curry sympathy to allow them entry into the community”.

    Later that Saturday night, around 11pm, armed herdsmen stormed Agagbe and started shooting sporadically, burnt down properties of the people, killed and injured many. “Many of the people have fled their homes and taken refuge in nearby communities in Apa local government area of the state,” eye witnesses revealed.

    Elsewhere the Oba of Benin was begging President Buhari and the Nigerian Governors’ Forum to put an end to killing in the country. The Oba, Omo N’oba N’edo, Uku Akpolokpolo, Ewuare II, spoke on the issue during a visit to the Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola

    ”I want you to mobilise your colleagues in the Nigerian Governors’ Forum to address the issue of insecurity in the country and do something to stop the unwarranted killings by herdsmen in Benue, Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, Edo and other parts of the country. It is unfortunate that this is going on in our land; we want something to be quickly done as soon as possible so that Nigerians can know peace because people are being swallowed by cattle in the land”, he said.

    “Nigerians cherish their comfort and a peaceful environment so much; so we are charging those of you at the helm of affairs in the country to do everything humanly possible to guarantee peace for Nigerians. The bloodletting is too much in the land and the nation is bleeding, we want a stop to this. The killing of innocent citizens has to stop in every part of this country. It is worrisome that the trending news in the country today is killing here and there, no day you will not hear the news that people have been butchered by herdsmen. Mr. Governor, something urgent needs to be done about it”, the revered King concluded.

    This is the true situation in Nigeria, which Donald Trump may not have known and it is crucial that he has all the details because President Buhari will not tell him. The danger of the Yankee not knowing is that he may, by being misled through lack of accurate information at his disposal, come to the conclusion that Nigeria and Nigerians would be helped better if Buhari is assisted to continue as president beyond 2019. And this is where the danger lurks.

    Donald Trump need to be told the plain truth that given all the indexes on ground in Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari would always play the Hausa/Fulani card pathologically. He is ready, at any given time and all the times, to defend his kith and kin of the Fulani tribe to the detriment of all other tribes in Nigeria. Ipso facto, there is a dilemma of decision making confronting Donald Trump on this matter of new-found friendship with President Buhari and the limit of help he is to render to him.

    Our President; whom we Nigerians know better than Donald Trump, is most unlikely to change his ways of life, not even at this ripe old age. He cannot improve the Nigerian economy because his own boss; former two-times President and a retired four-star General, Olusegun Obasanjo, said he is not good on economic administration. He is too tired [maybe for reason of old age] to monitor his appointee hence disobedience to his orders, like the one he personally reported when he said that “the Inspector General of Police disobeyed my order”, his instruction cannot help a Nation under anarchy, like Nigeria. There is little hope for economic growth because of the way corruption is growing bigger and larger under his administration; as just complained by the American government.

    If all these, plus more evils, are common property of this administration the only optional help for Nigerian and Nigerians is to help President Muhammadu Buhari to a befitting retirement in Daura, come May 29, 2019. Donald Trump has a duty to perform in achieving this feat.

     

    Godwin Etakibeubu, a veteran Journalist, wrote from Lagos.

    godwin@thenewsguru.ng

     

     

  • Muslim body cautions Buhari, says Trump offer to Nigeria divisive, insincere

    The Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN) has faulted the United States President Donald Trump’s offer on killings in Nigeria, saying such an offer would further divide Nigeria.

    The Amir (President) of the MSSN in Lagos State, Saheed Ashafa, said this in a press statement to react to the discussions between President Muhammadu Buhari and Mr Trump during the Nigerian president’s official visit to the U.S. on Monday.

    During the visit, Mr Trump specifically read what could be described as a riot act to the Nigerian government, saying the “killing of Christians in Nigeria was unacceptable” to the American government.

    But Mr Ashafa considered Mr Trump’s comment as one-sided and uncomplimentary, warning that Nigeria must be cautious of her relationship with the U.S.

    The Muslim students’ leader alleged that Mr Trump’s comment signalled his hatred for Muslims and Islam in Nigeria.

    He said, “Trump’s offer shows that he is myopic and uncivilised. The pronouncement to help fight killings of Christians in a nation where innocent souls are wasted without recourse to their affiliations is a call to separatism.

    “One would wonder if Trump is not aware or deliberately ignored the murder of several Muslims in a mosque at the University of Maiduguri, or those killed in mosques in Yobe and Zamfara; and many other parts of the country.

    “We should know that the offer is a reflection of Trump’s hatred for Islam and Muslims. Such offer at this point in time is divisive, ‘unafrican’ and insincere.”

    Mr Ashafa urged world leaders to ignore insinuations that Muslims are not against terrorism, adding that it would be more beneficial to tackle insurgency with utmost neutrality.

    While commending the calmness of President Buhari during the news conference with President Trump aired on CNN, Mr Ashafa urged him (President Buhari) to avoid negative influence in the fight against terrorism and corruption.

    He added, “Let me reiterate that as Muslims we condemn and reject all forms of terrorism, insurgency and oppression in whatever name being perpetrated.

    “We should also remember that in Nigeria, most families are composed of Christians and Muslims alike, just as we also have other faithful.

    “Trump’s call for separatism when the world is advocating for collectivism is not a healthy offer.”