Headline

Pendulum: 30 Years of Living and Working in Lagos (Part 4)

Published

6 years ago

May 26, 2018

Eric

By Dele Momodu

Fellow Nigerians, it is now four weeks that I have been educating and entertaining you about my 30 eventful years as a journalist and businessman in Lagos. My supersonic and meteoric journey was seemingly cut short by the three years I was forced to spend in exile, during the draconian government of General Sani Abacha. I ended my epistle to you last week at the point I arrived Accra, Ghana, in the evening of July 25, 1995. Let me say it loud and clear, I fell instantly in love with Ghana. By the time I woke up the following morning, I had to do two things; find my way around Accra to locate and meet the few friends I had on ground and link up with my amazing friends in England who were already meeting, planning and raising funds for me to fly out of Accra to London. I remain eternally indebted to so many people, most of them much younger. They stood by me like the Rock of Gibraltar.

First, I headed to the Osu area of Accra where the Abiolas had a company headed by Dele Gbajumo, who took care of me and treated me like a king. Then, I meandered my way to find an old Ghanaian friend, Fritz Baffour who had lived in Nigeria, but returned home to become a famous man. He gave me an Akwaaba reception immediately we reunited, showed me round important places and introduced me to distinguished personalities. My love for President Jerry John Rawlings started from my short sojourn in Ghana. I was impressed by his work. Little did I know we’ll be good friends in the near future. I enjoyed those three days spent in Ghana but was truly troubled by the country I had left behind in the hands of some adventurous, blood-sucking soldiers. On the evening of July 28, 1995, I boarded a British Airways flight from Accra to London Gatwick. At the Kotoka International Airport, Accra, I ran into the Editor-in-Chief of Tell magazine, Nosa Igiebor. We greeted warmly, as always. I soon discovered he was also heading into exile. Our flight took off and landed safely in London.

My friends were waiting anxiously for my arrival in London. I must say, I’m richly blessed by kind-hearted friends. They did everything humanly possible to ensure I did not feel too miserable. I stayed for several months in the home of Olugbenga and Ayo Olunloyo. Olugbenga is the son of the great mathematician and former Governor of Oyo State, Dr Victor Omololu Olunloyo. I felt completely at home. Our friends came every evening from work to arrange barbecue and all sorts for me. The next headache was how to get my wife and first son, who was under one year old, out of Nigeria. I urged my wife to take the NADECO route but the stubborn Christian insisted God would clear the way for them through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport. The risk was huge, but she went ahead. Meanwhile, I waited anxiously and with great trepidation on the other side and could not sleep all night, like a victim of insomnia. I left early for Gatwick Airport and waited with bated breath for my darling wife and adorable son. I saw many known and unknown Nigerians come into the Arrivals Hall having passed through Immigration and Customs, but my wife and son took almost forever in showing up. I had turned into jelly, shaking and sweating simultaneously. Telephones were not that common in those days so I wasn’t even sure they were allowed to board the flight. I was about giving up and resigning to fate when they emerged from the belly of the airport. My innocent son was obviously enjoying himself on top of a trolley while his mum pushed him along with their luggage. The sight of them was such a great relief!

We left the airport thanking God, while my wife regaled me with the drama that unfolded as they headed to the boarding gate in Lagos. They were stopped by security agents who stared at their passports for eternity. One of them asked if she was Dele Momodu’s wife and running away too, and she froze on the spot wondering if she should deny me like Peter denied Jesus but she kept mute. Then the unbelievable happened and the guys waved them off as if mesmerised by the Holy Spirit. My wife would not let me rest about the efficacy of prayers and I’ve come to accept her as our prayer warrior in the family. I believe God will call us soon and our dream church will come one day. Anyway, that was how we settled in London.

I soon joined other dissidents in London that included, Bola Tinubu, Alani Akinrinade, Dan Suleman, John Oyegun, Bolaji Akinyemi, Wale Osun, Peter Obadan, Tokunbo Afikuyomi, and others. Life was tough and brutish. Many of us lived from hand to mouth and those who had something shared with others. We lived more like communists. I will never forget the interventions of Bola Tinubu in particular. I was a regular in his flat with access to his kitchen where I cooked and ate whatever was available, plus I gladly consumed his varied assortment of drinks. My friend, Orji Kalu, came around from time to time and made sure we met and had dinner either at his home in North Finchley or somewhere in the West End. He was kind and never abandoned me. Kalu and Tinubu even attended the christening of our second son in July 1996.

We spent months hoping against hope that some miracle would happen and Abacha would relax his grip on power. But it remained a pipe dream and mirage. Nothing of the sort happened. The winner of the June 12, 1993 Presidential election, Moshood Abiola, remained in detention and solitary confinement. The worst soon happened, in many ways. Abiola’s beautiful and dutiful wife, Kudirat was murdered in cold blood on the streets of Lagos. The Ogoni Rights Movement leader, Ken Saro-Wiwa was sentenced to death and ignominiously hanged. Papa Alfred Rewane was shot dead in his bedroom. It was bad news galore. Almost on daily basis, terrible and tragic news came from home. We met fellow rebels occasionally at the Quadrangle, somewhere off Edgware Road and deliberated on strategies that can free Nigeria from servitude and oppression. We did what we could. Meanwhile, my main offence, which led to me fleeing Nigeria, was that I was falsely accused of being one of the brains behind Radio Freedom, which later became Radio Kudirat. Though I had some information about its operations, I was not one of the operatives whilst I was in Nigeria. The main man then was Kayode Fayemi. I knew two other friends who were heavily involved in the clandestine project, Richie Dayo Johnson and George Noah. I would later join them. I passionately ran the Yoruba programmes and got a lady to do some Hausa versions intermittently.

The biggest challenge was how to liberate the uncrowned President-in-waiting, Moshood Abiola. We toyed with all manner of plots including meeting with Germans, by Bola Tinubu and I. The Germans promised they could carry out some Entebbe-like operation similar to the one by the Israelis in the days of Idi Amin Dada of Uganda. I must doff my hat to the commitment and dare-devilry of Bola Tinubu once he embarks on any assignment. I witnessed this first hand and hope to elaborate more in my autobiography later. He put in so much and his home in New Cavendish was a Mecca of sorts for most dissidents.

On a personal note, I had to fight a different kind of battle. How to look after my family. I must specially thank the British Government for the incredible support we were given. I’m not sure of a better and greater country when it comes to looking after refugees like us. I applied for asylum and got powerful supportive letters from Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka and Kayode Fayemi who both confirmed my status in the political struggle to the Home Office in Croydon. Mercifully, I was granted full asylum by the British Government and was given refugee passports for myself and my family. Also, my cousin, Olusegun Fatoye miraculously spoke to me about finding something to do while domiciled in London. His idea and suggestion was that I should set up a magazine in London since that was my area of core competence back home in Nigeria. Not a problem. Trouble was where and how to raise funds. Our business plan showed we needed about £150,000 but if you sold our family, from first generation to the last, it was just impossible to raise that amount. And no bank was going to risk a loan on a brand new media company. My Uncle Chief Fatoye was God-sent as he scraped his account to drop the first £10,000 that launched Ovation. A few family members and friends scotched their accounts to bring out whatever they could put in. These were true believers in the dream that we could produce and deliver a world class publication.

We got a posh office in Docklands and this is another interesting story that must be told fully in the near future. The very day we moved in and we were having celebratory drinks, a bomb exploded next door. We all jumped up and started sprinting like Ben Johnson. “Abacha, Abacha, Abacha…” I screamed. I thought Abacha was on our trail to London. Unknown to us the bomb had been detonated by the Irish Republican Army (IRA). That was our baptism of fire. We were lucky that our building at Beaufort Court was bomb-proof and we were able to return the following week. The journey of how we assembled our team, did our best production, managed to print the maiden issue, the endless battle with bailiffs over our piling debts, and our eventual break and triumph are best reserved for my book. We give God all the glory for sustaining us.

A TOAST TO SIR SHINA PETERS AT 60

Here is a special tribute to one of Africa’s most gifted musicians, Sir Shina Peters, composer, multi-instrumentalist, singer and Afro-Juju creator. The story of our journey together is long and exciting. Our first encounter was a case of love at first time. He was launching his ACE album at the Railway Club in Ebute-Meta and I was asked to represent Concord newspaper, by our Managing Director, Doyinsola Abiola. It was a big carnival and that was where I met the footballer, John Fashanu, for the first time. Shina and I established a tight bond from then on. I wrote copiously about him in Weekend Concord which was the highest circulating paper at the time. I wrote the story that gave him the title SHINAMANIA for his second album. Shina was the craze in town.

He was the rave of the moment and we celebrated him endlessly. At a point, he was signed on by SONY Music where Keji Okunowo was Managing Director. I was appointed his public relations consultant. His biggest fan was Chief, Moshood Abiola, my boss and mentor. During my wedding in December 1992, Shina Peters was my Bestman. I actually had two Bestmen – Kunle Bakare was the other. We shared many fond memories at home and abroad. Shina brought together a new group of what we called yuppies in town, Aliko Dangote, Femi Otedola, Mohammed Gobir, Lanre Tejuoso, Segun Awolowo, Ayo Subair, Wale Otubanjo, Hosa Okunbo, Rotimi George-Taylor, and many others. It was unlimited fun at the popular hangout in Stadium Hotel Surulere, Lagos.

Shina exploded like an atomic bomb on the Nigerian music scene. I’m not sure anyone else has been able to cause such volcanic eruption. It a great tribute to the uniqueness of his music that he has succeeded in maintaining his stardom and he is still one of Nigeria’s iconic entertainers.

On May 30, 2018, my dear friend and Brother will be celebrated by the high society of Lagos, in a grand reception at the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island. Let me hasten to warn potential gate-crashers, of which there will be many, that the bash is strictly by invitation.

Help me raise a toast to good health and prosperity for SIR SHINA PETERS AT 60…

Headline

How FG Spent N19bn on Presidential Planes in 15 Months – Report

Published

5 days ago

November 12, 2024

Eric

At least N19.43 billion has reportedly been spent on the maintenance and operations of the Presidential Air Fleet from July 2023 to September 2024.

According to GovSpend, a civic tech platform that tracks and analyses the Federal government’s spending, showed that for 2024, the payouts amounted to N13.55billion, representing 66 per cent of the allocations for the fleet in the 2024 fiscal year.

Most disbursements were labeled ‘Forex Transit Funds,’ typically funds allocated for foreign exchange requirements to facilitate international transactions and engagements.

In the context of the Presidential Air Fleet, such funds are used to cover expenses related to operations outside the country, including fuel purchases, maintenance or services in foreign currencies.

“When aircraft on the fleet are abroad, payments are often made in U.S. dollars or another foreign currency to ensure uninterrupted operations,” a government official explained.

In July 2023, N1.52bn was disbursed in two tranches of N846m and N675m for ‘Presidential air fleet forex transit funds.’

The following month, N3.1bn was disbursed in three tranches of N388m, N2bn, and N713m for the same item.

In November of that year, N1.26bn was released to the Presidential Air Fleet Naira transit account.

The first overhead for 2024 came in March, where N1.27bn were disbursed twice, amounting to N2.54bn. The transit account received N6.35bn in April, N4.97bn in May and N210m in July.

August saw the highest frequency of transactions, with N5.60bn released in six separate disbursements.

Although these transactions were not clearly labeled, the monies were paid into the Presidential Air Fleet naira transit account, including the N35m transfer made in September.

In late April, the transit account received N5.08bn; this came around the same time the President was on a two-nation tour to the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia.

Although Tinubu arrived in the Netherlands in a state-owned Gulfstream AeroSpace 550 Jet, the aircraft could not proceed to Saudi Arabia due to unspecified technical problems. He reportedly continued his journey on a chartered private plane.

At the time, the President’s Boeing 737 business jet was undergoing maintenance. It was later replaced with an Airbus A330 purchased for $100m in August through service-wide votes.

The nearly 15-year-old plane, an ACJ330-200, VP-CAC (MSN 1053), is “spacious and furnished with state-of-the-art avionics, customised interior and communications system,” Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga said, adding that it “will save Nigeria huge maintenance and fuel costs, running into millions of dollars yearly.”

The new Airbus A330 is just one of several aircraft currently on the Presidential Air Fleet, arguably one of Africa’s largest, with around 11 aircraft of various makes and models. Until August, it comprised the 19-year-old B737-700 and a 13-year-old Gulfstream Aerospace G550.

The BBJ was acquired during the tenure of former President Olusegun Obasanjo at $43m but became a money guzzler as it aged.

Onanuga, defending the purchase of Airbus A330, argued that the new Airbus 330 aircraft and the costs of maintaining the air fleet were not for the president but in the interest of Nigerians.

“It’s not President Tinubu’s plane; it belongs to the people of Nigeria, it is our property…the President did not buy a new jet; what he has is a refurbished jet – it has been used by somebody else before he got it, but it is a much newer model than the one President Buhari used.

“The one President Buhari used was bought by President Obasanjo some 20 years ago. There was a time when the President went to Saudi Arabia, and the plane developed some problems. The President had to leave the Netherlands with a chartered jet.

“Nigerians should try to prioritise the safety of the President. I’m not sure anybody wishes our president to go and crash in the air. We want his safety so that he can hand it over to whoever wants to take over from him,” Onanuga said.

The presidential aide said he discussed with the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, on the faulty plane [Boeing 737 jet] and he said the maintenance costs were excessive because of the age of the aircraft, hence the need for another plane.

The presidential fixed-wing fleet includes a Gulfstream G500, two Falcon 7Xs, a Hawker 4000, and a Challenger 605.

Three of the seven fixed-wings are reportedly unserviceable. Meanwhile, the rotor-wing fleet includes two Agusta 139s and two Agusta 101s, all operated by the Nigerian Air Force but supervised by the Office of the National Security Adviser.

Former President Buhari promised to reduce the number of aircraft in the PAF to the absolute necessary.

In April 2023, three jets were put up for sale, but there were no specifics on which.

However, efforts to sell one of the Dassault Falcon 7x and the Hawker 4000 in October 2016 stalled when a potential buyer reduced their initial offer from $24m to $11m.

Since 2017, budgetary allocations for the fleet have shown a growing trend, with one exception in 2020.

The allocation for the fleet increased from N4.37bn in 2017 to N20.52bn in 2024, showing a 370 per cent rise in running costs.

In 2018, the fleet’s budget rose significantly by 66.13 per cent to N7.26bn, driven by a substantial increase in capital project allocations while maintaining similar levels for recurrent costs. This upward trajectory continued into 2019, slightly increasing the total allocation to N7.30bn.

The exception came in 2020, when the budget dropped by nearly seven per cent to N6.79bn, primarily due to decreased overhead costs, a reflection of the global economic impacts of lockdowns and disruptions in operations.

By 2021, however, the budget surged dramatically to N12.55bn—a record increase of 84.83 per cent from the previous year.

In 2022, maintenance expenses for each aircraft ranged from $1.5m to $4.5m annually.

The 2022, 2023 and 2024 appropriation acts earmarked N12.48bn, N13.07bn and N20.52bn respectively.

On his way to the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit in Samoa, a foreign object damaged the cockpit windscreen of Vice President Kashim Shettima’s GulfStream aircraft during a stopover at JFK Airport in New York.

According to Lee Aerospace, manufacturers of the Gulfstream, jet windshields consist of thick multilayered structures of varying layers of glass and transparent acrylic built to withstand collision with a 2kg object.

However, damage to the windshield must have affected its inner layers. While specific prices for replacement can vary based on supplier, labour rates and regional costs, estimates suggest that a single windshield replacement for a G550 can range from $50,000 to $70,000 for part and labour costs.

In an interview with our correspondent, the General Secretary of the Aviation Round Table, Olumide Ohunayo, blamed the meteoric rise in the allocations for the PAF on the age of some of the aircraft in the fleet and declining value of the naira as well as the “commercial use” of aircraft by the Nigerian Air Force.

Ohunayo said, “The cost will definitely increase over the years because for one, this issue of the naira against the dollar. As the naira keeps falling to the dollar, we will see a rise in cost because most of the costs of training crew and engineers and replacing aircraft parts are all in dollars.

“Also, some of these aircraft are not new. The older the aircraft, the higher the cost of maintenance and operation.

“Lastly, during these past years, terrorism and insecurity have increased in Nigeria, which has also affected the cost of insuring the aircraft.”

For his part, the Executive Chairman of the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, Debo Adeniran, argued that the administration’s spending habits were opposite to Nigerians’ expectations of frugality.

“What we are getting from this administration is opposite to our expectation. We thought we would have an administration that would be frugal in spending and very meticulous at implementing its budget.

“But what we are getting is an administration that has fallen in love with profligacy; that doesn’t see anything wrong in living big amid a poverty-stricken nation.

“It is a reenactment of the Shagari administration, whereby they bought the biggest Mercedes Benz and made themselves as comfortable as possible without considering how much the masses are suffering.

“So when you look at a Vice President saying he’s not travelling [to Samoa] again because there was a splinter on the windscreen of his private aircraft. Why should that be the case?

“First and foremost, we need to be represented at such an international meeting, where we should be well represented by the first two citizens of this country.

“He abandoned that, which means we would have lost certain representation that we deserve at that forum. Two, money will have been spent on advance parties that went ahead of the Vice President. But he abandoned the journey altogether.”

Headline

Pastor Tunde Bakare: Celebrating a Visionary Preacher @70

Published

1 week ago

November 10, 2024

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

He is visionary, blunt, articulate, passionate, fiery, evangelical, fearless, controversial and the newest septugenarian. He is the Founder and Presidng Pastor of the Citadel Global Community Church (CGCC), formally known as the Latter Rain Assembly. He is Pastor Tunde Bakare.

A thought provoking preacher, social commentator, legal expert and politician, Tunde Bakare has come of age in the business called Nigeria.

Born on November 11, 1954, Pastor Bakare is regarded as not only a prophetic-apostolic pastor, but a social and economic image maker, whose contributions to the originality, truth and oneness of the nation cannot be overemphasized.

Originally a Muslim, who embraced the Christian faith in 1974 at the age of 20, Bakare has contributed his quota as a nation builder, seeking both the Vice president and president positions of the nation on two different occasions.

Pastor Bakare started his educational life at All Saints Primary School, Kemta, Abeokuta, and subsequently Lisabi Grammar School, Abeokuta, where he obtained both the School Leaving Certificate and the West Africa Examination Council certificate

After his secondary education, he was admitted into the University of Lagos where he studied Law between 1977 and 1980 before attending Law School in 1981, and was subsequently called to the Bar and following his time in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

Bakare kickstarted his career when he started practicing law at the Gani Fawehinmi Chambers. His dexterity on the job propelled him to Rotimi Williams & Co., and later to Burke & Co., Solicitors.

In October 1984, he went solo, and established his own law firm, Tunde Bakare & Co. (El-Shaddai Chambers). Within the preceeding periods, he combined his legal duties with pastoral functions working as a legal adviser at the Deeper Life Bible Church, and later moving to the Redeemed Christian Church of God, where he became pastor and founded the Model Parish.

Following his time at the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Bakare left to start the Latter Rain Assembly Church in 1989, known today aa CGCC, where he presently serves as the General Overseer. In addition to his time in the church, he zeroed into part time politics, serving as the running-mate to presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari in the 2011 presidential election. Bakare has been critical of Nigeria’s leadership and has sparked controversy with comments considered inflammatory regarding Muslims and other spiritual leaders.

Also in 2019, Bakare announced his intention to run for president of Nigeria following the end of Buhari’s second term with a total conviction that he has a direct mandate to do and will surely become the next president of Nigeria. He joined the All Progressives Congress (APC) but, lost at the primaries conducted at Eagle Square, Abuja, in May 2022. He launched his then political trajectory under the New Nigeria Progressive Movement.

While expressing his intentions to run for the 2023 presidential election towards becoming the next president of Nigeria to church members in 2019 when he was quoted as saying, “I will succeed Buhari as President of Nigeria; nothing can change it. I am number 16, and Buhari is number 15. I never said it to you before. I am saying it now, and nothing can change it. In the name of Jesus, he (Buhari) is number 15. I am number 16. To this end, I was born, and for this purpose, I came into the world. I have prepared you for this for more than 30 years.”

Bakare also presides over the Global Apostolic Impact Network (GAIN), a network of churches, ministries, and kingdom businesses committed to advancing the Kingdom of God on earth as well as the President of Latter Rain Ministries, Inc. (Church Development Center) in Atlanta, GA, USA, a ministry committed to restoring today’s church to the scriptural pattern. He was given a Doctor of Ministry degree by Indiana Christian University under the leadership of his mentor, Dr. Lester Sumrall, in 1996.

Bakare has been instrumental to some uprisings in the country that challenge unhealthy administrations. It would be recalled that his Occupied Nigeria Movement led the protest against the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan in January 2012 after minor increase in fuel price. The protest was a total success, and led to reduction in fuel pump price.

Also a social critic, Bakare is critical of Miyetti Allah, labeling the Fulani herdsmen as a group of terrorists who rape, murder, and kidnap innocent civilians. Several Fulani Islamic scholars criticized Bakare’s comments about Fulani herdsmen as Islamophobic. Bakare had said that Fulani herdsmen were driving Nigeria towards a civil war.

He also holds a yearly state of the nation address to set the stage for the future and review national issues of the year past.

In his 2019 address, he stated, “We can therefore confidently state that, over the past thirty years, we have faithfully executed our God-given mandate to the nation from this platform. Over the past thirty years, we have deployed appropriate tools for appropriate occasions, from prophetic declarations to confrontational advocacy and from political activism to propositional policy advisory. Over the past thirty years, we have done this consistently, sometimes at the risk of being misunderstood by friends and foes alike.

“We have been motivated not by wavering
opinions of men but by our unshakeable faith in our national destiny and an unalloyed commitment to seeing that destiny fulfilled.”

Reports have it that he was arrested in March 2002 after preaching sermons critical of Nigeria’s then-president, Olusegun Obasanjo.

No matter how it is viewed, and the direction of his controversies, one thing is obvious, Bakare has stood on the side of truth, hope, and justice, and has remained consistent over the years.

The Serving Overseer has been very vocal, his trademark, over the recent hardship in the country, condemning the politicians for preaching what they cannot practice.

He said Nigerian politicians were not living lean or sacrificing like the rest of the citizens whom they asked to sacrifice for the country by enduring economic hardship.

Bakare said this while delivering the keynote address with the theme: “Cultivating a Culture of Dialogue: Nurturing Understanding in a Culturally and Socially Diverse Nation” at Wilson and Yinka Badejo Memorial Lecture 2024.

He is a strong believer in the theory that the pen is mightier than the sword. He write in an essay of same title that:

“The likes of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Kwame Nkrumah, and Chief Obafemi Awolowo, armed with no other weapon, mobilised the Queen’s language in the struggle for independence from the Queen. They fought their battles through such media as West African Pilot, Accra Evening News and The Tribune. Decades after independence, when free, fair and credible elections were annulled, and a tyrannical dictatorship held sway, the Nigerian press took up the baton and contended against the sword of oppression by deploying the armoury of vocabulary. I am so glad that the labours of these pen warriors and all others who fought for the democracy we enjoy today have not been in vain after all.”

For seven decades, Pastor Bakare has remained a voice in Nigeria politics, religion and socio-economic circle, relating with with Nigerians according to where the matter lies.

On this occasion of your 70th Birthday, we celebrate your consistency, focus and leadership acumen that has affected the people positively.

Congratulations sir!

Headline

US Polls: Tinubu, UK PM Starmer Congratulate Trump

Published

2 weeks ago

November 6, 2024

Eric

President Bola Tinubu has extended his heartfelt congratulations to President Donald Trump on his re-election as the 47th President of the United States of America.

A statement by Special Adviser to the President (Information & Strategy), Bayo Onanuga on Wednesday, said President Tinubu looks forward to strengthening the relations between Nigeria and the United States amid the complex challenges and opportunities of the contemporary world.

Donald Trump claimed victory on Wednesday and pledged to “heal” the country as results put him on the verge of beating Kamala Harris in a stunning White House comeback.

President Tinubu said: “Together, we can foster economic cooperation, promote peace, and address global challenges that affect our citizens.”

According to President Tinubu, Trump’s victory reflects the trust and confidence the American people have placed in his leadership. He congratulates them on their commitment to democracy.

President Tinubu believes that, given President Trump’s experience as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021, his return to the White House as the 47th president will usher in an era of earnest, beneficial, and reciprocal economic and development partnerships between Africa and the United States.

Acknowledging the United States’ influence, power, and position in determining the trend and course of global events, the Nigerian leader trusts that President Trump will bring the world closer to peace and prosperity.

Meanwhile, the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, has congratulated Donald Trump on his “historic election victory”, adding that the UK-US special relationship would “continue to prosper”.

“As the closest of allies, we stand shoulder to shoulder in defence of our shared values of freedom, democracy and enterprise. From growth and security to innovation and tech, I know that the UK-US special relationship will continue to prosper on both sides of the Atlantic for years to come,” he said.