A publication by Financial Times on the United States President, Donald Trump’s comment on President Muhammadu Buhari generated different reactions on Monday. The newspaper in its recent publication stated that Trump called Buhari, “lifeless,” after their April meeting in Washington. Financial Times, in the publication titled, ‘Africa looks for something new out of Donald Trump’, stated, “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.” Contrary to the publication, Trump had, at a meet-the-press held by the two leaders, commended the Buhari administration. He lauded the President’s effort in tackling corruption and insurgency. The American president had then called Nigeria one of the most beautiful places on earth, adding that he would love to visit the country someday. Buhari has caused Nigeria international embarrassment – PDP But Nigeria’s main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party, said Buhari and his handlers had opened Nigeria to international ridicule. The party said such alleged embarrassment was what it described as a backlash a nation gets when “incompetent leaders, out of inferiority complex, resort to jumping around the world, desperately shopping for endorsement from world leaders.” The party alleged that President Buhari had been seeking international recognition that “is not predicated on any achievements from his three years in office.” National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, who expressed the party’s view in a statement in Abuja on Monday, asked the President to stop junketing around the world and settle down to face his work in Nigeria. He said, “The PDP hereby charges Mr President to take a cue from the comments ascribed to President Trump by settling down at home and discharging his responsibilities to Nigerians or humbly accept his failings. “While the PDP has strong reservations on the reported comment by President Trump, for which we demand a response from the Buhari Presidency and the US White House, the party further holds that had our dear President not cheapened the exalted office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by his woeful outing during his visit to the United States, President Trump would not have had the opportunity to assess his level of incompetence and make such an embarrassing statement about our President. “The PDP and indeed all well-meaning Nigerians are now sore worry over how other world leaders have been perceiving our President, who has not only failed in governance but has continued to de-market our nation in the international community. The PDP however urges Nigerians not to be downcast by the embarrassing situation the nation has found itself, especially as the 2019 general election, which comes in the next six months, offers the nation the ample opportunity to get it right on the choice of competent leadership Nigerians can be proud of.” Trump’s verdict on Buhari shows Nigeria on autopilot – CUPP In its reaction, the Coalition of United Political Parties said the verdict of Trump which described President Buhari as a lifeless leader “who does not understand the issues of governance,” was another affirmation of the alleged widely held belief “that Nigeria is running on autopilot and in danger of being thrown off the cliff by the crass incompetence of Mr President.” In a statement by the spokesman for CUPP, Mr Ikenga Ugochinyere, the coalition called the verdict of Trump as a wake-up call for Nigerians to go and collect their permanent voter cards to enable them to perform the patriotic duty of electing a President in 2019 who understands what the issues are.
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