Earlier this week, before the news broke, we informed senior members of former Nigerian Vice President @atiku’s team about the Tinubu delegation’s meetings with the @StateDept and communicated the sentiment from the U.S. perspective: a lot of discussion about nothing, excuses, and futile attempts to have President @realDonaldTrump host President Tinubu at the @WhiteHouse.
Here are the facts: The United States will continue to work with Nigeria on shared interests, but no Nigerian delegation will convince the U.S. government to throw its support behind President Bola Tinubu (@officialABAT), who is an alleged heroin trafficker. Not now. Not ever.
Note: Based on strict official protocol seniority recognized by the United States and Nigeria, the #Tinubu government delegation would ordinarily be led by Nigerian Foreign Minister Bianca Ojukwu (@Ojukwu_Bianca) and met at the corresponding level by Secretary of State @SecRubio. The fact that the Nigerian government’s PR spin presents National Security Adviser @NuhuRibadu as leading the delegation and highlights a meeting with Allison Hooker, one of many Under Secretaries of State, communicates an unspoken but diplomatically significant message about the level at which the #Trump Administration received Tinubu’s delegation.
We have a message for President Bola #Tinubu: You can send the entire Nigerian government next time, but we will continue to work to ensure that it does not change the reality in DC. The United States will continue to engage Nigeria and work together where our interests align, but President #Trump has made clear that he is not going to endorse or personally support an alleged drug trafficker for President of Nigeria in Nigeria’s upcoming presidential election.
@HouseForeignGOP @HouseForeign @SenateForeign @SFRCdems @CNNAfrica @ReutersAfrica @BBCAfrica @washingtonpost @washexaminer @nytimes @SusieWiles47
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