Reasons Why President Trump Referred To President Buhari As “Lifeless”

US president, Donald Trump has rocked the media with one of his unflattering comments directed at the  Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari referring to him as a “lifeless” person, shortly after a meeting between the two leaders on the 30th of April 2018. President Buhari is the first sub-Saharan Africa president to meet Trump since he took over as the 45th American president. The meeting ended with President Trump saying he never wanted to meet someone as lifeless as Buhari again, as reported by Financial Times which also cited three persons familiar with the matter.

It was perceived at the press conference held by both leaders following their meeting, that President Buhari did not have much to say when he was asked if he addressed President Trump’s vulgar statement referring to most African countries as “shitholes”. The Nigerian President in fact in his word said “…the best thing for me is to keep quiet” on the matter which he said he could not validate. Meanwhile, President Trump re-affirmed his comment also insisting that President Buhari understood where he was coming from. It was also noticed that President Buhari made little to no effort to further negotiate the crude oil trade between the two countries when he was asked what he did in regards to the meeting to improve the significantly reduced importation of crude oil from Nigeria to the US. The Nigerian President responded with the statement: “No, I cannot tell the United States what to do.” Perhaps President Trump’s opinion of the Nigerian President was not completely out of context.

Since the comment against the Nigerian President was revealed many individuals, particularly in Nigeria, have taken the matter to heart stating that the US President should not have made such a comment, while other political rivals have aligned with the comment insisting that the Nigerian President should give up on his aspiration for a 2nd term due to his advanced age. However, the US government has continuously avoided commenting on the subject as the US Embassy Counselor for Public Affairs Mr Aruba Amirthanayagam, stated: “We have no specific comment on that, a newspaper published it, the paper should comment on it,” during his recent visit to Minna, Niger state.

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