The world’s leading global business publication, Financial Times said US president, Donald Trump described his April meeting with Nigeria president, Muhammadu Buhari as ‘so lifeless’ in an article titled ‘Africa looks for something new out of Trump’ as Kenya president visits the White House.
Trump met Buhari on April 30 at Washington as the two leaders discussed issues including “fighting terrorism” and economic growth.
Buhari was the first sub-Saharan African leader to visit Trump at the White House for a bilateral talk that touched on security, economy, trade, investment and governance.
The Financial Times in its latest article claimed that the meeting ended with Trump warning his aides that he never wanted to meet someone so lifeless again.
“The first meeting, with Nigeria’s ailing 75-year-old Muhammadu Buhari in April, ended with the US president telling aides he never wanted to meet someone so lifeless again, according to three people familiar with the matter,” the newspaper claimed.
Trump will welcome Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta to the White House on Monday for what will be only the second one-on-one meeting the US president has held with an African leader since he took office.
The newspaper added that advocates of closer US-Africa ties hope his encounter with the younger, more urbane Mr Kenyatta, 56, will breathe fresh life into a relationship with a region that Washington is seen to have neglected as other countries, notably China, develop ever-closer trade and investment ties with the continent.
The Presidency has not reacted to this article.
However, Trump praised Buhari during the joint-press conference held after the meeting in April.“Nigeria has a reputation for very massive corruption.
I also know that the President (Buhari) has been able to cut that down very substantially. We talked about that, he is working on it and they have made a lot of progress and I think they will continue to make a lot of progress,” Trump said at the Press conference.
