Neither President Barack Obama nor his wife Michelle will attend the inauguration of Nigeria’s president-elect, Muhammadu Buhari on 29 May, in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, the White House said.
Although President Obama was never on the cards, a story credited to the Nigerian ambassador in the US, Tony Adefuye had suggested that Michele Obama will be among a powerful American delegation, including vice-president John Biden and Secretary of state, John Kerry, to Abuja.
The White House Thursday swiftly squelched the news: “The First Lady will not be traveling to Nigeria,” Caroline Adler, communications director in the first lady’s office, said in an email Thursday.
Adefuye, had told Nigerian media that outgoing Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan had extended an invitation to the U.S. government for Buhari’s inauguration, and a senior official is expected to lead the American delegation.
“I have been told that there would be an unusually large American delegation that will attend the presidential inauguration on May 29,” Adefuye told Premium Times newspaper in Abuja.
“Nigeria’s profile has been on the rise since after the election, with the concession by Jonathan and the smooth transition that is going on.”
The Obama administration showed particular interest in the success of Nigeria’s elections and senior U.S. officials had denounced potential election-related violence, which marred Nigerian polls in the past. Obama himself urged Nigerian voters to insist on credible elections. Immediately after the general elections, he congratulated the West African nation on “the strength of Nigeria’s commitment to democratic principles.”
“While far from perfect, the March 28 elections were the best since Nigeria’s restoration of civilian government in 1999,” John Campbell, the Ralph Bunche senior fellow for Africa policy studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote in a blog post Wednesday. “Now, in the aftermath of the March 28 elections, it would be appropriate for the president to visit Nigeria, perhaps in conjunction with his July visit to Kenya for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Nairobi.”
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