Ona quiet Friday last October, US President Donald Trump set his sights on Nigeria and the Tinubu administration, designating Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern.In the hours that followed, he warned that the world’s most powerful military force would be brought to bear on terrorists in the country if the Federal Government failed to stem what he called the killing of Christians.It was the high point of weeks of debates triggered by Bill Maher’s remarks about a Christian genocide in Nigeria.Whether there was a genocide or not was no longer the issue. The issue here was that 10 months of ‘avoiding’ the Trump question had ended, and Tinubu was now faced with only one choice: to talk to #47.You see, aside from the statutory goodwill statement congratulating Trump and expressing Nigeria’s readiness to work with the new administration, nothing much had transpired between the two leaders.For the better part of those months, President Tinubu treated the Trump question the way any wise man treats a sleeping lion: look from a distance and never, ever poke it.He had good counsel for this, of course. Former Foreign Affairs Minister, Prof Bolaji Akinyemi, had warned in January 2025 that Tinubu should avoid irritating Trump because the American President “will bully him.” It was advice that could reasonably be stretched to mean: avoid Trump altogether.With a man whose truths on Truth Social moved markets and whose tweets have worried governments, one never quite knows which gesture might trigger the storm.So Tinubu trod carefully. I wrote about this delicate choreography when Tinubu’s vacation in Europe coincided with Trump’s state visit to the United Kingdom last September.Tinubu, who was in Paris at the time, was billed to spend the latter part of his vacation in London but changed his mind at the last minute, likely saying, “I must not miss the wedding fatiha of Senator Yari’s son in Kaduna.” That way, he stayed away from Europe entirely while Trump toured London.But here is the thing about Trump: if he is looking for you, avoidance won’t help. A minor trip can out you. Like the Liberian President, Joseph Boakai, who got asked, “Where did you learn how to speak such beautiful… English?” For Tinubu, however, it was no minor trip. It involved lives.Late last year, the smoke from killings across Nigeria reignited the fierce debate over “Christian genocide.” And Trump seized it with characteristic thunder.First, he designated Nigeria a CPC and then threatened to move in, guns blazing, if the government did nothing about it.The lion was always awake, but it was now staring at Aso Rock. As I wrote last November, Trump’s threats were like Isaac Newton’s First Law storming Aso Rock. It says an object at rest, in this case (you fill in the gaps), will remain at rest until acted upon by an external force. Suddenly, the long-stalled ambassadorial nominations were expedited, press conferences by the Federal Government intensified, and the Federal Executive Council reconvened after a three-month hiatus.Related News16 million Nigerians to face hunger crisis by January 2027 – Report‘Kano digital market to generate 100,000 jobs’Legend Hotel unveils Herbert Wigwe AuditoriumTinubu’s reaction on November 1, to his credit, was neither equal nor opposite. It was softer. Nigeria, he said, was ready to work with the United States to resolve the war against terrorism, not genocide. And the Book of Proverbs did its thing again: “A soft answer turneth away wrath.” In the weeks that followed, both governments agreed to a Joint Working Group co-chaired by the two National Security Advisers.Training and intelligence sharing followed. Then, on May 16, a coordinated strike on ISIS hideouts in the Lake Chad area killed the group’s top leader, Abubakar Al-Minoki, and many of his lieutenants.American Special Operations Forces, Trump would later boast, had been deployed to equip Nigerian troops, and the collaboration was yielding results.And so to last Wednesday, when the Presidency released a letter from Trump dated July 6. Trump applauded Tinubu’s “decisive leadership on behalf of the Nigerian people,” his resolve to tackle “the violence affecting Christian communities,” and declared it “a true honour to stand with you in the fight against these terrorists.”He referenced the US-Nigeria 2026 Defence Cooperation Roadmap and looked forward to “continued discussions over the course of my Presidency.” From threats of an invasion to “a true honour” in under a year. Both presidents are now exchanging tokens of goodwill ahead of September’s UN General Assembly, which Tinubu is billed to attend.Now, I doubt if this softening happened by accident. Looking closely, you will find a woman’s fingerprints on it. In February, the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, an ordained pastor, as Trump would identify her, appeared at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, the holiest gathering on the American evangelical calendar and Trump’s home crowd.There, the American President singled her out as a “very respected woman.” She followed up with an interview on FOX News, the channel most firmly lodged in Republican good books. The Tinubu administration must have thought, “If the anxiety in the White House was about Nigerian Christians, who better to calm those nerves than the President’s wife, who is a pastor?” And so, the pastor went ahead of the politician.There were also reports that the administration engaged Washington lobbyists to smooth its image ahead of the pastor’s visit. The Presidency has not been eager to discuss the details. But if those reports are true, then somewhere in DCI Group’s office, a lobbyist must have read Trump’s letter and felt quite justified in having earned his pay.Not everyone is clapping, of course. The opposition smells choreography. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s camp has been playing the accuser in the same field, and the Allied People’s Movement accused the Presidency of twisting Trump’s letter to recast an anti-terror partnership as a re-election campaign. But the Presidency fired back last Thursday that Atiku was “undermining Nigeria” by lobbying against his own country abroad. In the whole back-and-forth, I couldn’t help but notice that both—no, all—sides agree that the White House’s opinion matters enormously in 2027.It’s safe to say that the battleground of 2027 politics, and those before it, has never been the grassroots alone. It has always had an American or UK annex.Meanwhile, while Tinubu and Trump warm up to dance in New York, Vice President Kashim Shettima led an expedition of six governors to Cotonou, Benin Republic.I must confess, I imagined that the VP was probably going to import Tokunbo cars. After all, the city has fed our appetite for fairly used cars for decades. Still, I half-expected the VP to return with a convoy of accident-free, first-body Camrys, buy-and-drive.But the VP’s office said the mission was textiles. It said Benin Republic’s Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone is one of West Africa’s success stories, taking the region’s cotton and spinning it into garments for export; the very value-addition sermon Tinubu preached at the Africa CEO Forum in Rwanda.Shettima, the statement says, went to study how our small neighbour succeeded, presumably so Nigeria, which grows more cotton than Benin, can stop exporting fibre and importing clothes. In the hours that followed, he warned that the world’s most powerful military force would be brought to bear on terrorists in the country if the Federal Government failed to stem what he called the killing of Christians.It was the high point of weeks of debates triggered by Bill Maher’s remarks about a Christian genocide in Nigeria.Whether there was a genocide or not was no longer the issue. The issue here was that 10 months of ‘avoiding’ the Trump question had ended, and Tinubu was now faced with only one choice: to talk to #47.You see, aside from the statutory goodwill statement congratulating Trump and expressing Nigeria’s readiness to work with the new administration, nothing much had transpired between the two leaders.For the better part of those months, President Tinubu treated the Trump question the way any wise man treats a sleeping lion: look from a distance and never, ever poke it.He had good counsel for this, of course. Former Foreign Affairs Minister, Prof Bolaji Akinyemi, had warned in January 2025 that Tinubu should avoid irritating Trump because the American President “will bully him.” It was advice that could reasonably be stretched to mean: avoid Trump altogether.With a man whose truths on Truth Social moved markets and whose tweets have worried governments, one never quite knows which gesture might trigger the storm.So Tinubu trod carefully. I wrote about this delicate choreography when Tinubu’s vacation in Europe coincided with Trump’s state visit to the United Kingdom last September.Tinubu, who was in Paris at the time, was billed to spend the latter part of his vacation in London but changed his mind at the last minute, likely saying, “I must not miss the wedding fatiha of Senator Yari’s son in Kaduna.” That way, he stayed away from Europe entirely while Trump toured London.But here is the thing about Trump: if he is looking for you, avoidance won’t help. A minor trip can out you. Like the Liberian President, Joseph Boakai, who got asked, “Where did you learn how to speak such beautiful… English?” For Tinubu, however, it was no minor trip. It involved lives.Late last year, the smoke from killings across Nigeria reignited the fierce debate over “Christian genocide.” And Trump seized it with characteristic thunder.First, he designated Nigeria a CPC and then threatened to move in, guns blazing, if the government did nothing about it.The lion was always awake, but it was now staring at Aso Rock. As I wrote last November, Trump’s threats were like Isaac Newton’s First Law storming Aso Rock. It says an object at rest, in this case (you fill in the gaps), will remain at rest until acted upon by an external force. Suddenly, the long-stalled ambassadorial nominations were expedited, press conferences by the Federal Government intensified, and the Federal Executive Council reconvened after a three-month hiatus.Related News16 million Nigerians to face hunger crisis by January 2027 – Report‘Kano digital market to generate 100,000 jobs’Legend Hotel unveils Herbert Wigwe AuditoriumTinubu’s reaction on November 1, to his credit, was neither equal nor opposite. It was softer. Nigeria, he said, was ready to work with the United States to resolve the war against terrorism, not genocide. And the Book of Proverbs did its thing again: “A soft answer turneth away wrath.” In the weeks that followed, both governments agreed to a Joint Working Group co-chaired by the two National Security Advisers.Training and intelligence sharing followed. Then, on May 16, a coordinated strike on ISIS hideouts in the Lake Chad area killed the group’s top leader, Abubakar Al-Minoki, and many of his lieutenants.American Special Operations Forces, Trump would later boast, had been deployed to equip Nigerian troops, and the collaboration was yielding results.And so to last Wednesday, when the Presidency released a letter from Trump dated July 6. Trump applauded Tinubu’s “decisive leadership on behalf of the Nigerian people,” his resolve to tackle “the violence affecting Christian communities,” and declared it “a true honour to stand with you in the fight against these terrorists.”He referenced the US-Nigeria 2026 Defence Cooperation Roadmap and looked forward to “continued discussions over the course of my Presidency.” From threats of an invasion to “a true honour” in under a year. Both presidents are now exchanging tokens of goodwill ahead of September’s UN General Assembly, which Tinubu is billed to attend.Now, I doubt if this softening happened by accident. Looking closely, you will find a woman’s fingerprints on it. In February, the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, an ordained pastor, as Trump would identify her, appeared at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, the holiest gathering on the American evangelical calendar and Trump’s home crowd.There, the American President singled her out as a “very respected woman.” She followed up with an interview on FOX News, the channel most firmly lodged in Republican good books. The Tinubu administration must have thought, “If the anxiety in the White House was about Nigerian Christians, who better to calm those nerves than the President’s wife, who is a pastor?” And so, the pastor went ahead of the politician.There were also reports that the administration engaged Washington lobbyists to smooth its image ahead of the pastor’s visit. The Presidency has not been eager to discuss the details. But if those reports are true, then somewhere in DCI Group’s office, a lobbyist must have read Trump’s letter and felt quite justified in having earned his pay.Not everyone is clapping, of course. The opposition smells choreography. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s camp has been playing the accuser in the same field, and the Allied People’s Movement accused the Presidency of twisting Trump’s letter to recast an anti-terror partnership as a re-election campaign. But the Presidency fired back last Thursday that Atiku was “undermining Nigeria” by lobbying against his own country abroad. In the whole back-and-forth, I couldn’t help but notice that both—no, all—sides agree that the White House’s opinion matters enormously in 2027.It’s safe to say that the battleground of 2027 politics, and those before it, has never been the grassroots alone. It has always had an American or UK annex.Meanwhile, while Tinubu and Trump warm up to dance in New York, Vice President Kashim Shettima led an expedition of six governors to Cotonou, Benin Republic.I must confess, I imagined that the VP was probably going to import Tokunbo cars. After all, the city has fed our appetite for fairly used cars for decades. Still, I half-expected the VP to return with a convoy of accident-free, first-body Camrys, buy-and-drive.But the VP’s office said the mission was textiles. It said Benin Republic’s Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone is one of West Africa’s success stories, taking the region’s cotton and spinning it into garments for export; the very value-addition sermon Tinubu preached at the Africa CEO Forum in Rwanda.Shettima, the statement says, went to study how our small neighbour succeeded, presumably so Nigeria, which grows more cotton than Benin, can stop exporting fibre and importing clothes. It was the high point of weeks of debates triggered by Bill Maher’s remarks about a Christian genocide in Nigeria.Whether there was a genocide or not was no longer the issue. The issue here was that 10 months of ‘avoiding’ the Trump question had ended, and Tinubu was now faced with only one choice: to talk to #47.You see, aside from the statutory goodwill statement congratulating Trump and expressing Nigeria’s readiness to work with the new administration, nothing much had transpired between the two leaders.For the better part of those months, President Tinubu treated the Trump question the way any wise man treats a sleeping lion: look from a distance and never, ever poke it.He had good counsel for this, of course. Former Foreign Affairs Minister, Prof Bolaji Akinyemi, had warned in January 2025 that Tinubu should avoid irritating Trump because the American President “will bully him.” It was advice that could reasonably be stretched to mean: avoid Trump altogether.With a man whose truths on Truth Social moved markets and whose tweets have worried governments, one never quite knows which gesture might trigger the storm.So Tinubu trod carefully. I wrote about this delicate choreography when Tinubu’s vacation in Europe coincided with Trump’s state visit to the United Kingdom last September.Tinubu, who was in Paris at the time, was billed to spend the latter part of his vacation in London but changed his mind at the last minute, likely saying, “I must not miss the wedding fatiha of Senator Yari’s son in Kaduna.” That way, he stayed away from Europe entirely while Trump toured London.But here is the thing about Trump: if he is looking for you, avoidance won’t help. A minor trip can out you. Like the Liberian President, Joseph Boakai, who got asked, “Where did you learn how to speak such beautiful… English?” For Tinubu, however, it was no minor trip. It involved lives.Late last year, the smoke from killings across Nigeria reignited the fierce debate over “Christian genocide.” And Trump seized it with characteristic thunder.First, he designated Nigeria a CPC and then threatened to move in, guns blazing, if the government did nothing about it.The lion was always awake, but it was now staring at Aso Rock. As I wrote last November, Trump’s threats were like Isaac Newton’s First Law storming Aso Rock. It says an object at rest, in this case (you fill in the gaps), will remain at rest until acted upon by an external force. Suddenly, the long-stalled ambassadorial nominations were expedited, press conferences by the Federal Government intensified, and the Federal Executive Council reconvened after a three-month hiatus.Related News16 million Nigerians to face hunger crisis by January 2027 – Report‘Kano digital market to generate 100,000 jobs’Legend Hotel unveils Herbert Wigwe AuditoriumTinubu’s reaction on November 1, to his credit, was neither equal nor opposite. It was softer. Nigeria, he said, was ready to work with the United States to resolve the war against terrorism, not genocide. And the Book of Proverbs did its thing again: “A soft answer turneth away wrath.” In the weeks that followed, both governments agreed to a Joint Working Group co-chaired by the two National Security Advisers.Training and intelligence sharing followed. Then, on May 16, a coordinated strike on ISIS hideouts in the Lake Chad area killed the group’s top leader, Abubakar Al-Minoki, and many of his lieutenants.American Special Operations Forces, Trump would later boast, had been deployed to equip Nigerian troops, and the collaboration was yielding results.And so to last Wednesday, when the Presidency released a letter from Trump dated July 6. Trump applauded Tinubu’s “decisive leadership on behalf of the Nigerian people,” his resolve to tackle “the violence affecting Christian communities,” and declared it “a true honour to stand with you in the fight against these terrorists.”He referenced the US-Nigeria 2026 Defence Cooperation Roadmap and looked forward to “continued discussions over the course of my Presidency.” From threats of an invasion to “a true honour” in under a year. Both presidents are now exchanging tokens of goodwill ahead of September’s UN General Assembly, which Tinubu is billed to attend.Now, I doubt if this softening happened by accident. Looking closely, you will find a woman’s fingerprints on it. In February, the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, an ordained pastor, as Trump would identify her, appeared at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, the holiest gathering on the American evangelical calendar and Trump’s home crowd.There, the American President singled her out as a “very respected woman.” She followed up with an interview on FOX News, the channel most firmly lodged in Republican good books. The Tinubu administration must have thought, “If the anxiety in the White House was about Nigerian Christians, who better to calm those nerves than the President’s wife, who is a pastor?” And so, the pastor went ahead of the politician.There were also reports that the administration engaged Washington lobbyists to smooth its image ahead of the pastor’s visit. The Presidency has not been eager to discuss the details. But if those reports are true, then somewhere in DCI Group’s office, a lobbyist must have read Trump’s letter and felt quite justified in having earned his pay.Not everyone is clapping, of course. The opposition smells choreography. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s camp has been playing the accuser in the same field, and the Allied People’s Movement accused the Presidency of twisting Trump’s letter to recast an anti-terror partnership as a re-election campaign. But the Presidency fired back last Thursday that Atiku was “undermining Nigeria” by lobbying against his own country abroad. In the whole back-and-forth, I couldn’t help but notice that both—no, all—sides agree that the White House’s opinion matters enormously in 2027.It’s safe to say that the battleground of 2027 politics, and those before it, has never been the grassroots alone. It has always had an American or UK annex.Meanwhile, while Tinubu and Trump warm up to dance in New York, Vice President Kashim Shettima led an expedition of six governors to Cotonou, Benin Republic.I must confess, I imagined that the VP was probably going to import Tokunbo cars. After all, the city has fed our appetite for fairly used cars for decades. Still, I half-expected the VP to return with a convoy of accident-free, first-body Camrys, buy-and-drive.But the VP’s office said the mission was textiles. It said Benin Republic’s Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone is one of West Africa’s success stories, taking the region’s cotton and spinning it into garments for export; the very value-addition sermon Tinubu preached at the Africa CEO Forum in Rwanda.Shettima, the statement says, went to study how our small neighbour succeeded, presumably so Nigeria, which grows more cotton than Benin, can stop exporting fibre and importing clothes. Whether there was a genocide or not was no longer the issue. The issue here was that 10 months of ‘avoiding’ the Trump question had ended, and Tinubu was now faced with only one choice: to talk to #47.You see, aside from the statutory goodwill statement congratulating Trump and expressing Nigeria’s readiness to work with the new administration, nothing much had transpired between the two leaders.For the better part of those months, President Tinubu treated the Trump question the way any wise man treats a sleeping lion: look from a distance and never, ever poke it.He had good counsel for this, of course. Former Foreign Affairs Minister, Prof Bolaji Akinyemi, had warned in January 2025 that Tinubu should avoid irritating Trump because the American President “will bully him.” It was advice that could reasonably be stretched to mean: avoid Trump altogether.With a man whose truths on Truth Social moved markets and whose tweets have worried governments, one never quite knows which gesture might trigger the storm.So Tinubu trod carefully. I wrote about this delicate choreography when Tinubu’s vacation in Europe coincided with Trump’s state visit to the United Kingdom last September.Tinubu, who was in Paris at the time, was billed to spend the latter part of his vacation in London but changed his mind at the last minute, likely saying, “I must not miss the wedding fatiha of Senator Yari’s son in Kaduna.” That way, he stayed away from Europe entirely while Trump toured London.But here is the thing about Trump: if he is looking for you, avoidance won’t help. A minor trip can out you. Like the Liberian President, Joseph Boakai, who got asked, “Where did you learn how to speak such beautiful… English?” For Tinubu, however, it was no minor trip. It involved lives.Late last year, the smoke from killings across Nigeria reignited the fierce debate over “Christian genocide.” And Trump seized it with characteristic thunder.First, he designated Nigeria a CPC and then threatened to move in, guns blazing, if the government did nothing about it.The lion was always awake, but it was now staring at Aso Rock. As I wrote last November, Trump’s threats were like Isaac Newton’s First Law storming Aso Rock. It says an object at rest, in this case (you fill in the gaps), will remain at rest until acted upon by an external force. Suddenly, the long-stalled ambassadorial nominations were expedited, press conferences by the Federal Government intensified, and the Federal Executive Council reconvened after a three-month hiatus.Related News16 million Nigerians to face hunger crisis by January 2027 – Report‘Kano digital market to generate 100,000 jobs’Legend Hotel unveils Herbert Wigwe AuditoriumTinubu’s reaction on November 1, to his credit, was neither equal nor opposite. It was softer. Nigeria, he said, was ready to work with the United States to resolve the war against terrorism, not genocide. And the Book of Proverbs did its thing again: “A soft answer turneth away wrath.” In the weeks that followed, both governments agreed to a Joint Working Group co-chaired by the two National Security Advisers.Training and intelligence sharing followed. Then, on May 16, a coordinated strike on ISIS hideouts in the Lake Chad area killed the group’s top leader, Abubakar Al-Minoki, and many of his lieutenants.American Special Operations Forces, Trump would later boast, had been deployed to equip Nigerian troops, and the collaboration was yielding results.And so to last Wednesday, when the Presidency released a letter from Trump dated July 6. Trump applauded Tinubu’s “decisive leadership on behalf of the Nigerian people,” his resolve to tackle “the violence affecting Christian communities,” and declared it “a true honour to stand with you in the fight against these terrorists.”He referenced the US-Nigeria 2026 Defence Cooperation Roadmap and looked forward to “continued discussions over the course of my Presidency.” From threats of an invasion to “a true honour” in under a year. Both presidents are now exchanging tokens of goodwill ahead of September’s UN General Assembly, which Tinubu is billed to attend.Now, I doubt if this softening happened by accident. Looking closely, you will find a woman’s fingerprints on it. In February, the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, an ordained pastor, as Trump would identify her, appeared at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, the holiest gathering on the American evangelical calendar and Trump’s home crowd.There, the American President singled her out as a “very respected woman.” She followed up with an interview on FOX News, the channel most firmly lodged in Republican good books. The Tinubu administration must have thought, “If the anxiety in the White House was about Nigerian Christians, who better to calm those nerves than the President’s wife, who is a pastor?” And so, the pastor went ahead of the politician.There were also reports that the administration engaged Washington lobbyists to smooth its image ahead of the pastor’s visit. The Presidency has not been eager to discuss the details. But if those reports are true, then somewhere in DCI Group’s office, a lobbyist must have read Trump’s letter and felt quite justified in having earned his pay.Not everyone is clapping, of course. The opposition smells choreography. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s camp has been playing the accuser in the same field, and the Allied People’s Movement accused the Presidency of twisting Trump’s letter to recast an anti-terror partnership as a re-election campaign. But the Presidency fired back last Thursday that Atiku was “undermining Nigeria” by lobbying against his own country abroad. In the whole back-and-forth, I couldn’t help but notice that both—no, all—sides agree that the White House’s opinion matters enormously in 2027.It’s safe to say that the battleground of 2027 politics, and those before it, has never been the grassroots alone. It has always had an American or UK annex.Meanwhile, while Tinubu and Trump warm up to dance in New York, Vice President Kashim Shettima led an expedition of six governors to Cotonou, Benin Republic.I must confess, I imagined that the VP was probably going to import Tokunbo cars. After all, the city has fed our appetite for fairly used cars for decades. Still, I half-expected the VP to return with a convoy of accident-free, first-body Camrys, buy-and-drive.But the VP’s office said the mission was textiles. It said Benin Republic’s Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone is one of West Africa’s success stories, taking the region’s cotton and spinning it into garments for export; the very value-addition sermon Tinubu preached at the Africa CEO Forum in Rwanda.Shettima, the statement says, went to study how our small neighbour succeeded, presumably so Nigeria, which grows more cotton than Benin, can stop exporting fibre and importing clothes. You see, aside from the statutory goodwill statement congratulating Trump and expressing Nigeria’s readiness to work with the new administration, nothing much had transpired between the two leaders.For the better part of those months, President Tinubu treated the Trump question the way any wise man treats a sleeping lion: look from a distance and never, ever poke it.He had good counsel for this, of course. Former Foreign Affairs Minister, Prof Bolaji Akinyemi, had warned in January 2025 that Tinubu should avoid irritating Trump because the American President “will bully him.” It was advice that could reasonably be stretched to mean: avoid Trump altogether.With a man whose truths on Truth Social moved markets and whose tweets have worried governments, one never quite knows which gesture might trigger the storm.So Tinubu trod carefully. I wrote about this delicate choreography when Tinubu’s vacation in Europe coincided with Trump’s state visit to the United Kingdom last September.Tinubu, who was in Paris at the time, was billed to spend the latter part of his vacation in London but changed his mind at the last minute, likely saying, “I must not miss the wedding fatiha of Senator Yari’s son in Kaduna.” That way, he stayed away from Europe entirely while Trump toured London.But here is the thing about Trump: if he is looking for you, avoidance won’t help. A minor trip can out you. Like the Liberian President, Joseph Boakai, who got asked, “Where did you learn how to speak such beautiful… English?” For Tinubu, however, it was no minor trip. It involved lives.Late last year, the smoke from killings across Nigeria reignited the fierce debate over “Christian genocide.” And Trump seized it with characteristic thunder.First, he designated Nigeria a CPC and then threatened to move in, guns blazing, if the government did nothing about it.The lion was always awake, but it was now staring at Aso Rock. As I wrote last November, Trump’s threats were like Isaac Newton’s First Law storming Aso Rock. It says an object at rest, in this case (you fill in the gaps), will remain at rest until acted upon by an external force. Suddenly, the long-stalled ambassadorial nominations were expedited, press conferences by the Federal Government intensified, and the Federal Executive Council reconvened after a three-month hiatus.Related News16 million Nigerians to face hunger crisis by January 2027 – Report‘Kano digital market to generate 100,000 jobs’Legend Hotel unveils Herbert Wigwe AuditoriumTinubu’s reaction on November 1, to his credit, was neither equal nor opposite. It was softer. Nigeria, he said, was ready to work with the United States to resolve the war against terrorism, not genocide. And the Book of Proverbs did its thing again: “A soft answer turneth away wrath.” In the weeks that followed, both governments agreed to a Joint Working Group co-chaired by the two National Security Advisers.Training and intelligence sharing followed. Then, on May 16, a coordinated strike on ISIS hideouts in the Lake Chad area killed the group’s top leader, Abubakar Al-Minoki, and many of his lieutenants.American Special Operations Forces, Trump would later boast, had been deployed to equip Nigerian troops, and the collaboration was yielding results.And so to last Wednesday, when the Presidency released a letter from Trump dated July 6. Trump applauded Tinubu’s “decisive leadership on behalf of the Nigerian people,” his resolve to tackle “the violence affecting Christian communities,” and declared it “a true honour to stand with you in the fight against these terrorists.”He referenced the US-Nigeria 2026 Defence Cooperation Roadmap and looked forward to “continued discussions over the course of my Presidency.” From threats of an invasion to “a true honour” in under a year. Both presidents are now exchanging tokens of goodwill ahead of September’s UN General Assembly, which Tinubu is billed to attend.Now, I doubt if this softening happened by accident. Looking closely, you will find a woman’s fingerprints on it. In February, the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, an ordained pastor, as Trump would identify her, appeared at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, the holiest gathering on the American evangelical calendar and Trump’s home crowd.There, the American President singled her out as a “very respected woman.” She followed up with an interview on FOX News, the channel most firmly lodged in Republican good books. The Tinubu administration must have thought, “If the anxiety in the White House was about Nigerian Christians, who better to calm those nerves than the President’s wife, who is a pastor?” And so, the pastor went ahead of the politician.There were also reports that the administration engaged Washington lobbyists to smooth its image ahead of the pastor’s visit. The Presidency has not been eager to discuss the details. But if those reports are true, then somewhere in DCI Group’s office, a lobbyist must have read Trump’s letter and felt quite justified in having earned his pay.Not everyone is clapping, of course. The opposition smells choreography. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s camp has been playing the accuser in the same field, and the Allied People’s Movement accused the Presidency of twisting Trump’s letter to recast an anti-terror partnership as a re-election campaign. But the Presidency fired back last Thursday that Atiku was “undermining Nigeria” by lobbying against his own country abroad. In the whole back-and-forth, I couldn’t help but notice that both—no, all—sides agree that the White House’s opinion matters enormously in 2027.It’s safe to say that the battleground of 2027 politics, and those before it, has never been the grassroots alone. It has always had an American or UK annex.Meanwhile, while Tinubu and Trump warm up to dance in New York, Vice President Kashim Shettima led an expedition of six governors to Cotonou, Benin Republic.I must confess, I imagined that the VP was probably going to import Tokunbo cars. After all, the city has fed our appetite for fairly used cars for decades. Still, I half-expected the VP to return with a convoy of accident-free, first-body Camrys, buy-and-drive.But the VP’s office said the mission was textiles. It said Benin Republic’s Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone is one of West Africa’s success stories, taking the region’s cotton and spinning it into garments for export; the very value-addition sermon Tinubu preached at the Africa CEO Forum in Rwanda.Shettima, the statement says, went to study how our small neighbour succeeded, presumably so Nigeria, which grows more cotton than Benin, can stop exporting fibre and importing clothes. For the better part of those months, President Tinubu treated the Trump question the way any wise man treats a sleeping lion: look from a distance and never, ever poke it.He had good counsel for this, of course. Former Foreign Affairs Minister, Prof Bolaji Akinyemi, had warned in January 2025 that Tinubu should avoid irritating Trump because the American President “will bully him.” It was advice that could reasonably be stretched to mean: avoid Trump altogether.With a man whose truths on Truth Social moved markets and whose tweets have worried governments, one never quite knows which gesture might trigger the storm.So Tinubu trod carefully. I wrote about this delicate choreography when Tinubu’s vacation in Europe coincided with Trump’s state visit to the United Kingdom last September.Tinubu, who was in Paris at the time, was billed to spend the latter part of his vacation in London but changed his mind at the last minute, likely saying, “I must not miss the wedding fatiha of Senator Yari’s son in Kaduna.” That way, he stayed away from Europe entirely while Trump toured London.But here is the thing about Trump: if he is looking for you, avoidance won’t help. A minor trip can out you. Like the Liberian President, Joseph Boakai, who got asked, “Where did you learn how to speak such beautiful… English?” For Tinubu, however, it was no minor trip. It involved lives.Late last year, the smoke from killings across Nigeria reignited the fierce debate over “Christian genocide.” And Trump seized it with characteristic thunder.First, he designated Nigeria a CPC and then threatened to move in, guns blazing, if the government did nothing about it.The lion was always awake, but it was now staring at Aso Rock. As I wrote last November, Trump’s threats were like Isaac Newton’s First Law storming Aso Rock. It says an object at rest, in this case (you fill in the gaps), will remain at rest until acted upon by an external force. Suddenly, the long-stalled ambassadorial nominations were expedited, press conferences by the Federal Government intensified, and the Federal Executive Council reconvened after a three-month hiatus.Related News16 million Nigerians to face hunger crisis by January 2027 – Report‘Kano digital market to generate 100,000 jobs’Legend Hotel unveils Herbert Wigwe AuditoriumTinubu’s reaction on November 1, to his credit, was neither equal nor opposite. It was softer. Nigeria, he said, was ready to work with the United States to resolve the war against terrorism, not genocide. And the Book of Proverbs did its thing again: “A soft answer turneth away wrath.” In the weeks that followed, both governments agreed to a Joint Working Group co-chaired by the two National Security Advisers.Training and intelligence sharing followed. Then, on May 16, a coordinated strike on ISIS hideouts in the Lake Chad area killed the group’s top leader, Abubakar Al-Minoki, and many of his lieutenants.American Special Operations Forces, Trump would later boast, had been deployed to equip Nigerian troops, and the collaboration was yielding results.And so to last Wednesday, when the Presidency released a letter from Trump dated July 6. Trump applauded Tinubu’s “decisive leadership on behalf of the Nigerian people,” his resolve to tackle “the violence affecting Christian communities,” and declared it “a true honour to stand with you in the fight against these terrorists.”He referenced the US-Nigeria 2026 Defence Cooperation Roadmap and looked forward to “continued discussions over the course of my Presidency.” From threats of an invasion to “a true honour” in under a year. Both presidents are now exchanging tokens of goodwill ahead of September’s UN General Assembly, which Tinubu is billed to attend.Now, I doubt if this softening happened by accident. Looking closely, you will find a woman’s fingerprints on it. In February, the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, an ordained pastor, as Trump would identify her, appeared at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, the holiest gathering on the American evangelical calendar and Trump’s home crowd.There, the American President singled her out as a “very respected woman.” She followed up with an interview on FOX News, the channel most firmly lodged in Republican good books. The Tinubu administration must have thought, “If the anxiety in the White House was about Nigerian Christians, who better to calm those nerves than the President’s wife, who is a pastor?” And so, the pastor went ahead of the politician.There were also reports that the administration engaged Washington lobbyists to smooth its image ahead of the pastor’s visit. The Presidency has not been eager to discuss the details. But if those reports are true, then somewhere in DCI Group’s office, a lobbyist must have read Trump’s letter and felt quite justified in having earned his pay.Not everyone is clapping, of course. The opposition smells choreography. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s camp has been playing the accuser in the same field, and the Allied People’s Movement accused the Presidency of twisting Trump’s letter to recast an anti-terror partnership as a re-election campaign. But the Presidency fired back last Thursday that Atiku was “undermining Nigeria” by lobbying against his own country abroad. In the whole back-and-forth, I couldn’t help but notice that both—no, all—sides agree that the White House’s opinion matters enormously in 2027.It’s safe to say that the battleground of 2027 politics, and those before it, has never been the grassroots alone. It has always had an American or UK annex.Meanwhile, while Tinubu and Trump warm up to dance in New York, Vice President Kashim Shettima led an expedition of six governors to Cotonou, Benin Republic.I must confess, I imagined that the VP was probably going to import Tokunbo cars. After all, the city has fed our appetite for fairly used cars for decades. Still, I half-expected the VP to return with a convoy of accident-free, first-body Camrys, buy-and-drive.But the VP’s office said the mission was textiles. It said Benin Republic’s Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone is one of West Africa’s success stories, taking the region’s cotton and spinning it into garments for export; the very value-addition sermon Tinubu preached at the Africa CEO Forum in Rwanda.Shettima, the statement says, went to study how our small neighbour succeeded, presumably so Nigeria, which grows more cotton than Benin, can stop exporting fibre and importing clothes. He had good counsel for this, of course. Former Foreign Affairs Minister, Prof Bolaji Akinyemi, had warned in January 2025 that Tinubu should avoid irritating Trump because the American President “will bully him.” It was advice that could reasonably be stretched to mean: avoid Trump altogether.With a man whose truths on Truth Social moved markets and whose tweets have worried governments, one never quite knows which gesture might trigger the storm.So Tinubu trod carefully. I wrote about this delicate choreography when Tinubu’s vacation in Europe coincided with Trump’s state visit to the United Kingdom last September.Tinubu, who was in Paris at the time, was billed to spend the latter part of his vacation in London but changed his mind at the last minute, likely saying, “I must not miss the wedding fatiha of Senator Yari’s son in Kaduna.” That way, he stayed away from Europe entirely while Trump toured London.But here is the thing about Trump: if he is looking for you, avoidance won’t help. A minor trip can out you. Like the Liberian President, Joseph Boakai, who got asked, “Where did you learn how to speak such beautiful… English?” For Tinubu, however, it was no minor trip. It involved lives.Late last year, the smoke from killings across Nigeria reignited the fierce debate over “Christian genocide.” And Trump seized it with characteristic thunder.First, he designated Nigeria a CPC and then threatened to move in, guns blazing, if the government did nothing about it.The lion was always awake, but it was now staring at Aso Rock. As I wrote last November, Trump’s threats were like Isaac Newton’s First Law storming Aso Rock. It says an object at rest, in this case (you fill in the gaps), will remain at rest until acted upon by an external force. Suddenly, the long-stalled ambassadorial nominations were expedited, press conferences by the Federal Government intensified, and the Federal Executive Council reconvened after a three-month hiatus.Related News16 million Nigerians to face hunger crisis by January 2027 – Report‘Kano digital market to generate 100,000 jobs’Legend Hotel unveils Herbert Wigwe AuditoriumTinubu’s reaction on November 1, to his credit, was neither equal nor opposite. It was softer. Nigeria, he said, was ready to work with the United States to resolve the war against terrorism, not genocide. And the Book of Proverbs did its thing again: “A soft answer turneth away wrath.” In the weeks that followed, both governments agreed to a Joint Working Group co-chaired by the two National Security Advisers.Training and intelligence sharing followed. Then, on May 16, a coordinated strike on ISIS hideouts in the Lake Chad area killed the group’s top leader, Abubakar Al-Minoki, and many of his lieutenants.American Special Operations Forces, Trump would later boast, had been deployed to equip Nigerian troops, and the collaboration was yielding results.And so to last Wednesday, when the Presidency released a letter from Trump dated July 6. Trump applauded Tinubu’s “decisive leadership on behalf of the Nigerian people,” his resolve to tackle “the violence affecting Christian communities,” and declared it “a true honour to stand with you in the fight against these terrorists.”He referenced the US-Nigeria 2026 Defence Cooperation Roadmap and looked forward to “continued discussions over the course of my Presidency.” From threats of an invasion to “a true honour” in under a year. Both presidents are now exchanging tokens of goodwill ahead of September’s UN General Assembly, which Tinubu is billed to attend.Now, I doubt if this softening happened by accident. Looking closely, you will find a woman’s fingerprints on it. In February, the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, an ordained pastor, as Trump would identify her, appeared at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, the holiest gathering on the American evangelical calendar and Trump’s home crowd.There, the American President singled her out as a “very respected woman.” She followed up with an interview on FOX News, the channel most firmly lodged in Republican good books. The Tinubu administration must have thought, “If the anxiety in the White House was about Nigerian Christians, who better to calm those nerves than the President’s wife, who is a pastor?” And so, the pastor went ahead of the politician.There were also reports that the administration engaged Washington lobbyists to smooth its image ahead of the pastor’s visit. The Presidency has not been eager to discuss the details. But if those reports are true, then somewhere in DCI Group’s office, a lobbyist must have read Trump’s letter and felt quite justified in having earned his pay.Not everyone is clapping, of course. The opposition smells choreography. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s camp has been playing the accuser in the same field, and the Allied People’s Movement accused the Presidency of twisting Trump’s letter to recast an anti-terror partnership as a re-election campaign. But the Presidency fired back last Thursday that Atiku was “undermining Nigeria” by lobbying against his own country abroad. In the whole back-and-forth, I couldn’t help but notice that both—no, all—sides agree that the White House’s opinion matters enormously in 2027.It’s safe to say that the battleground of 2027 politics, and those before it, has never been the grassroots alone. It has always had an American or UK annex.Meanwhile, while Tinubu and Trump warm up to dance in New York, Vice President Kashim Shettima led an expedition of six governors to Cotonou, Benin Republic.I must confess, I imagined that the VP was probably going to import Tokunbo cars. After all, the city has fed our appetite for fairly used cars for decades. Still, I half-expected the VP to return with a convoy of accident-free, first-body Camrys, buy-and-drive.But the VP’s office said the mission was textiles. It said Benin Republic’s Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone is one of West Africa’s success stories, taking the region’s cotton and spinning it into garments for export; the very value-addition sermon Tinubu preached at the Africa CEO Forum in Rwanda.Shettima, the statement says, went to study how our small neighbour succeeded, presumably so Nigeria, which grows more cotton than Benin, can stop exporting fibre and importing clothes. With a man whose truths on Truth Social moved markets and whose tweets have worried governments, one never quite knows which gesture might trigger the storm.So Tinubu trod carefully. I wrote about this delicate choreography when Tinubu’s vacation in Europe coincided with Trump’s state visit to the United Kingdom last September.Tinubu, who was in Paris at the time, was billed to spend the latter part of his vacation in London but changed his mind at the last minute, likely saying, “I must not miss the wedding fatiha of Senator Yari’s son in Kaduna.” That way, he stayed away from Europe entirely while Trump toured London.But here is the thing about Trump: if he is looking for you, avoidance won’t help. A minor trip can out you. Like the Liberian President, Joseph Boakai, who got asked, “Where did you learn how to speak such beautiful… English?” For Tinubu, however, it was no minor trip. It involved lives.Late last year, the smoke from killings across Nigeria reignited the fierce debate over “Christian genocide.” And Trump seized it with characteristic thunder.First, he designated Nigeria a CPC and then threatened to move in, guns blazing, if the government did nothing about it.The lion was always awake, but it was now staring at Aso Rock. As I wrote last November, Trump’s threats were like Isaac Newton’s First Law storming Aso Rock. It says an object at rest, in this case (you fill in the gaps), will remain at rest until acted upon by an external force. Suddenly, the long-stalled ambassadorial nominations were expedited, press conferences by the Federal Government intensified, and the Federal Executive Council reconvened after a three-month hiatus.Related News16 million Nigerians to face hunger crisis by January 2027 – Report‘Kano digital market to generate 100,000 jobs’Legend Hotel unveils Herbert Wigwe AuditoriumTinubu’s reaction on November 1, to his credit, was neither equal nor opposite. It was softer. Nigeria, he said, was ready to work with the United States to resolve the war against terrorism, not genocide. And the Book of Proverbs did its thing again: “A soft answer turneth away wrath.” In the weeks that followed, both governments agreed to a Joint Working Group co-chaired by the two National Security Advisers.Training and intelligence sharing followed. Then, on May 16, a coordinated strike on ISIS hideouts in the Lake Chad area killed the group’s top leader, Abubakar Al-Minoki, and many of his lieutenants.American Special Operations Forces, Trump would later boast, had been deployed to equip Nigerian troops, and the collaboration was yielding results.And so to last Wednesday, when the Presidency released a letter from Trump dated July 6. Trump applauded Tinubu’s “decisive leadership on behalf of the Nigerian people,” his resolve to tackle “the violence affecting Christian communities,” and declared it “a true honour to stand with you in the fight against these terrorists.”He referenced the US-Nigeria 2026 Defence Cooperation Roadmap and looked forward to “continued discussions over the course of my Presidency.” From threats of an invasion to “a true honour” in under a year. Both presidents are now exchanging tokens of goodwill ahead of September’s UN General Assembly, which Tinubu is billed to attend.Now, I doubt if this softening happened by accident. Looking closely, you will find a woman’s fingerprints on it. In February, the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, an ordained pastor, as Trump would identify her, appeared at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, the holiest gathering on the American evangelical calendar and Trump’s home crowd.There, the American President singled her out as a “very respected woman.” She followed up with an interview on FOX News, the channel most firmly lodged in Republican good books. The Tinubu administration must have thought, “If the anxiety in the White House was about Nigerian Christians, who better to calm those nerves than the President’s wife, who is a pastor?” And so, the pastor went ahead of the politician.There were also reports that the administration engaged Washington lobbyists to smooth its image ahead of the pastor’s visit. The Presidency has not been eager to discuss the details. But if those reports are true, then somewhere in DCI Group’s office, a lobbyist must have read Trump’s letter and felt quite justified in having earned his pay.Not everyone is clapping, of course. The opposition smells choreography. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s camp has been playing the accuser in the same field, and the Allied People’s Movement accused the Presidency of twisting Trump’s letter to recast an anti-terror partnership as a re-election campaign. But the Presidency fired back last Thursday that Atiku was “undermining Nigeria” by lobbying against his own country abroad. In the whole back-and-forth, I couldn’t help but notice that both—no, all—sides agree that the White House’s opinion matters enormously in 2027.It’s safe to say that the battleground of 2027 politics, and those before it, has never been the grassroots alone. It has always had an American or UK annex.Meanwhile, while Tinubu and Trump warm up to dance in New York, Vice President Kashim Shettima led an expedition of six governors to Cotonou, Benin Republic.I must confess, I imagined that the VP was probably going to import Tokunbo cars. After all, the city has fed our appetite for fairly used cars for decades. Still, I half-expected the VP to return with a convoy of accident-free, first-body Camrys, buy-and-drive.But the VP’s office said the mission was textiles. It said Benin Republic’s Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone is one of West Africa’s success stories, taking the region’s cotton and spinning it into garments for export; the very value-addition sermon Tinubu preached at the Africa CEO Forum in Rwanda.Shettima, the statement says, went to study how our small neighbour succeeded, presumably so Nigeria, which grows more cotton than Benin, can stop exporting fibre and importing clothes. So Tinubu trod carefully. I wrote about this delicate choreography when Tinubu’s vacation in Europe coincided with Trump’s state visit to the United Kingdom last September.Tinubu, who was in Paris at the time, was billed to spend the latter part of his vacation in London but changed his mind at the last minute, likely saying, “I must not miss the wedding fatiha of Senator Yari’s son in Kaduna.” That way, he stayed away from Europe entirely while Trump toured London.But here is the thing about Trump: if he is looking for you, avoidance won’t help. A minor trip can out you. Like the Liberian President, Joseph Boakai, who got asked, “Where did you learn how to speak such beautiful… English?” For Tinubu, however, it was no minor trip. It involved lives.Late last year, the smoke from killings across Nigeria reignited the fierce debate over “Christian genocide.” And Trump seized it with characteristic thunder.First, he designated Nigeria a CPC and then threatened to move in, guns blazing, if the government did nothing about it.The lion was always awake, but it was now staring at Aso Rock. As I wrote last November, Trump’s threats were like Isaac Newton’s First Law storming Aso Rock. It says an object at rest, in this case (you fill in the gaps), will remain at rest until acted upon by an external force. Suddenly, the long-stalled ambassadorial nominations were expedited, press conferences by the Federal Government intensified, and the Federal Executive Council reconvened after a three-month hiatus.Related News16 million Nigerians to face hunger crisis by January 2027 – Report‘Kano digital market to generate 100,000 jobs’Legend Hotel unveils Herbert Wigwe AuditoriumTinubu’s reaction on November 1, to his credit, was neither equal nor opposite. It was softer. Nigeria, he said, was ready to work with the United States to resolve the war against terrorism, not genocide. And the Book of Proverbs did its thing again: “A soft answer turneth away wrath.” In the weeks that followed, both governments agreed to a Joint Working Group co-chaired by the two National Security Advisers.Training and intelligence sharing followed. Then, on May 16, a coordinated strike on ISIS hideouts in the Lake Chad area killed the group’s top leader, Abubakar Al-Minoki, and many of his lieutenants.American Special Operations Forces, Trump would later boast, had been deployed to equip Nigerian troops, and the collaboration was yielding results.And so to last Wednesday, when the Presidency released a letter from Trump dated July 6. Trump applauded Tinubu’s “decisive leadership on behalf of the Nigerian people,” his resolve to tackle “the violence affecting Christian communities,” and declared it “a true honour to stand with you in the fight against these terrorists.”He referenced the US-Nigeria 2026 Defence Cooperation Roadmap and looked forward to “continued discussions over the course of my Presidency.” From threats of an invasion to “a true honour” in under a year. Both presidents are now exchanging tokens of goodwill ahead of September’s UN General Assembly, which Tinubu is billed to attend.Now, I doubt if this softening happened by accident. Looking closely, you will find a woman’s fingerprints on it. In February, the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, an ordained pastor, as Trump would identify her, appeared at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, the holiest gathering on the American evangelical calendar and Trump’s home crowd.There, the American President singled her out as a “very respected woman.” She followed up with an interview on FOX News, the channel most firmly lodged in Republican good books. The Tinubu administration must have thought, “If the anxiety in the White House was about Nigerian Christians, who better to calm those nerves than the President’s wife, who is a pastor?” And so, the pastor went ahead of the politician.There were also reports that the administration engaged Washington lobbyists to smooth its image ahead of the pastor’s visit. The Presidency has not been eager to discuss the details. But if those reports are true, then somewhere in DCI Group’s office, a lobbyist must have read Trump’s letter and felt quite justified in having earned his pay.Not everyone is clapping, of course. The opposition smells choreography. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s camp has been playing the accuser in the same field, and the Allied People’s Movement accused the Presidency of twisting Trump’s letter to recast an anti-terror partnership as a re-election campaign. But the Presidency fired back last Thursday that Atiku was “undermining Nigeria” by lobbying against his own country abroad. In the whole back-and-forth, I couldn’t help but notice that both—no, all—sides agree that the White House’s opinion matters enormously in 2027.It’s safe to say that the battleground of 2027 politics, and those before it, has never been the grassroots alone. It has always had an American or UK annex.Meanwhile, while Tinubu and Trump warm up to dance in New York, Vice President Kashim Shettima led an expedition of six governors to Cotonou, Benin Republic.I must confess, I imagined that the VP was probably going to import Tokunbo cars. After all, the city has fed our appetite for fairly used cars for decades. Still, I half-expected the VP to return with a convoy of accident-free, first-body Camrys, buy-and-drive.But the VP’s office said the mission was textiles. It said Benin Republic’s Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone is one of West Africa’s success stories, taking the region’s cotton and spinning it into garments for export; the very value-addition sermon Tinubu preached at the Africa CEO Forum in Rwanda.Shettima, the statement says, went to study how our small neighbour succeeded, presumably so Nigeria, which grows more cotton than Benin, can stop exporting fibre and importing clothes. Tinubu, who was in Paris at the time, was billed to spend the latter part of his vacation in London but changed his mind at the last minute, likely saying, “I must not miss the wedding fatiha of Senator Yari’s son in Kaduna.” That way, he stayed away from Europe entirely while Trump toured London.But here is the thing about Trump: if he is looking for you, avoidance won’t help. A minor trip can out you. Like the Liberian President, Joseph Boakai, who got asked, “Where did you learn how to speak such beautiful… English?” For Tinubu, however, it was no minor trip. It involved lives.Late last year, the smoke from killings across Nigeria reignited the fierce debate over “Christian genocide.” And Trump seized it with characteristic thunder.First, he designated Nigeria a CPC and then threatened to move in, guns blazing, if the government did nothing about it.The lion was always awake, but it was now staring at Aso Rock. As I wrote last November, Trump’s threats were like Isaac Newton’s First Law storming Aso Rock. It says an object at rest, in this case (you fill in the gaps), will remain at rest until acted upon by an external force. Suddenly, the long-stalled ambassadorial nominations were expedited, press conferences by the Federal Government intensified, and the Federal Executive Council reconvened after a three-month hiatus.Related News16 million Nigerians to face hunger crisis by January 2027 – Report‘Kano digital market to generate 100,000 jobs’Legend Hotel unveils Herbert Wigwe AuditoriumTinubu’s reaction on November 1, to his credit, was neither equal nor opposite. It was softer. Nigeria, he said, was ready to work with the United States to resolve the war against terrorism, not genocide. And the Book of Proverbs did its thing again: “A soft answer turneth away wrath.” In the weeks that followed, both governments agreed to a Joint Working Group co-chaired by the two National Security Advisers.Training and intelligence sharing followed. Then, on May 16, a coordinated strike on ISIS hideouts in the Lake Chad area killed the group’s top leader, Abubakar Al-Minoki, and many of his lieutenants.American Special Operations Forces, Trump would later boast, had been deployed to equip Nigerian troops, and the collaboration was yielding results.And so to last Wednesday, when the Presidency released a letter from Trump dated July 6. Trump applauded Tinubu’s “decisive leadership on behalf of the Nigerian people,” his resolve to tackle “the violence affecting Christian communities,” and declared it “a true honour to stand with you in the fight against these terrorists.”He referenced the US-Nigeria 2026 Defence Cooperation Roadmap and looked forward to “continued discussions over the course of my Presidency.” From threats of an invasion to “a true honour” in under a year. Both presidents are now exchanging tokens of goodwill ahead of September’s UN General Assembly, which Tinubu is billed to attend.Now, I doubt if this softening happened by accident. Looking closely, you will find a woman’s fingerprints on it. In February, the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, an ordained pastor, as Trump would identify her, appeared at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, the holiest gathering on the American evangelical calendar and Trump’s home crowd.There, the American President singled her out as a “very respected woman.” She followed up with an interview on FOX News, the channel most firmly lodged in Republican good books. The Tinubu administration must have thought, “If the anxiety in the White House was about Nigerian Christians, who better to calm those nerves than the President’s wife, who is a pastor?” And so, the pastor went ahead of the politician.There were also reports that the administration engaged Washington lobbyists to smooth its image ahead of the pastor’s visit. The Presidency has not been eager to discuss the details. But if those reports are true, then somewhere in DCI Group’s office, a lobbyist must have read Trump’s letter and felt quite justified in having earned his pay.Not everyone is clapping, of course. The opposition smells choreography. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s camp has been playing the accuser in the same field, and the Allied People’s Movement accused the Presidency of twisting Trump’s letter to recast an anti-terror partnership as a re-election campaign. But the Presidency fired back last Thursday that Atiku was “undermining Nigeria” by lobbying against his own country abroad. In the whole back-and-forth, I couldn’t help but notice that both—no, all—sides agree that the White House’s opinion matters enormously in 2027.It’s safe to say that the battleground of 2027 politics, and those before it, has never been the grassroots alone. It has always had an American or UK annex.Meanwhile, while Tinubu and Trump warm up to dance in New York, Vice President Kashim Shettima led an expedition of six governors to Cotonou, Benin Republic.I must confess, I imagined that the VP was probably going to import Tokunbo cars. After all, the city has fed our appetite for fairly used cars for decades. Still, I half-expected the VP to return with a convoy of accident-free, first-body Camrys, buy-and-drive.But the VP’s office said the mission was textiles. It said Benin Republic’s Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone is one of West Africa’s success stories, taking the region’s cotton and spinning it into garments for export; the very value-addition sermon Tinubu preached at the Africa CEO Forum in Rwanda.Shettima, the statement says, went to study how our small neighbour succeeded, presumably so Nigeria, which grows more cotton than Benin, can stop exporting fibre and importing clothes. But here is the thing about Trump: if he is looking for you, avoidance won’t help. A minor trip can out you. Like the Liberian President, Joseph Boakai, who got asked, “Where did you learn how to speak such beautiful… English?” For Tinubu, however, it was no minor trip. It involved lives.Late last year, the smoke from killings across Nigeria reignited the fierce debate over “Christian genocide.” And Trump seized it with characteristic thunder.First, he designated Nigeria a CPC and then threatened to move in, guns blazing, if the government did nothing about it.The lion was always awake, but it was now staring at Aso Rock. As I wrote last November, Trump’s threats were like Isaac Newton’s First Law storming Aso Rock. It says an object at rest, in this case (you fill in the gaps), will remain at rest until acted upon by an external force. Suddenly, the long-stalled ambassadorial nominations were expedited, press conferences by the Federal Government intensified, and the Federal Executive Council reconvened after a three-month hiatus.Related News16 million Nigerians to face hunger crisis by January 2027 – Report‘Kano digital market to generate 100,000 jobs’Legend Hotel unveils Herbert Wigwe AuditoriumTinubu’s reaction on November 1, to his credit, was neither equal nor opposite. It was softer. Nigeria, he said, was ready to work with the United States to resolve the war against terrorism, not genocide. And the Book of Proverbs did its thing again: “A soft answer turneth away wrath.” In the weeks that followed, both governments agreed to a Joint Working Group co-chaired by the two National Security Advisers.Training and intelligence sharing followed. Then, on May 16, a coordinated strike on ISIS hideouts in the Lake Chad area killed the group’s top leader, Abubakar Al-Minoki, and many of his lieutenants.American Special Operations Forces, Trump would later boast, had been deployed to equip Nigerian troops, and the collaboration was yielding results.And so to last Wednesday, when the Presidency released a letter from Trump dated July 6. Trump applauded Tinubu’s “decisive leadership on behalf of the Nigerian people,” his resolve to tackle “the violence affecting Christian communities,” and declared it “a true honour to stand with you in the fight against these terrorists.”He referenced the US-Nigeria 2026 Defence Cooperation Roadmap and looked forward to “continued discussions over the course of my Presidency.” From threats of an invasion to “a true honour” in under a year. Both presidents are now exchanging tokens of goodwill ahead of September’s UN General Assembly, which Tinubu is billed to attend.Now, I doubt if this softening happened by accident. Looking closely, you will find a woman’s fingerprints on it. In February, the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, an ordained pastor, as Trump would identify her, appeared at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, the holiest gathering on the American evangelical calendar and Trump’s home crowd.There, the American President singled her out as a “very respected woman.” She followed up with an interview on FOX News, the channel most firmly lodged in Republican good books. The Tinubu administration must have thought, “If the anxiety in the White House was about Nigerian Christians, who better to calm those nerves than the President’s wife, who is a pastor?” And so, the pastor went ahead of the politician.There were also reports that the administration engaged Washington lobbyists to smooth its image ahead of the pastor’s visit. The Presidency has not been eager to discuss the details. But if those reports are true, then somewhere in DCI Group’s office, a lobbyist must have read Trump’s letter and felt quite justified in having earned his pay.Not everyone is clapping, of course. The opposition smells choreography. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s camp has been playing the accuser in the same field, and the Allied People’s Movement accused the Presidency of twisting Trump’s letter to recast an anti-terror partnership as a re-election campaign. But the Presidency fired back last Thursday that Atiku was “undermining Nigeria” by lobbying against his own country abroad. In the whole back-and-forth, I couldn’t help but notice that both—no, all—sides agree that the White House’s opinion matters enormously in 2027.It’s safe to say that the battleground of 2027 politics, and those before it, has never been the grassroots alone. It has always had an American or UK annex.Meanwhile, while Tinubu and Trump warm up to dance in New York, Vice President Kashim Shettima led an expedition of six governors to Cotonou, Benin Republic.I must confess, I imagined that the VP was probably going to import Tokunbo cars. After all, the city has fed our appetite for fairly used cars for decades. Still, I half-expected the VP to return with a convoy of accident-free, first-body Camrys, buy-and-drive.But the VP’s office said the mission was textiles. It said Benin Republic’s Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone is one of West Africa’s success stories, taking the region’s cotton and spinning it into garments for export; the very value-addition sermon Tinubu preached at the Africa CEO Forum in Rwanda.Shettima, the statement says, went to study how our small neighbour succeeded, presumably so Nigeria, which grows more cotton than Benin, can stop exporting fibre and importing clothes. Late last year, the smoke from killings across Nigeria reignited the fierce debate over “Christian genocide.” And Trump seized it with characteristic thunder.First, he designated Nigeria a CPC and then threatened to move in, guns blazing, if the government did nothing about it.The lion was always awake, but it was now staring at Aso Rock. As I wrote last November, Trump’s threats were like Isaac Newton’s First Law storming Aso Rock. It says an object at rest, in this case (you fill in the gaps), will remain at rest until acted upon by an external force. Suddenly, the long-stalled ambassadorial nominations were expedited, press conferences by the Federal Government intensified, and the Federal Executive Council reconvened after a three-month hiatus.Related News16 million Nigerians to face hunger crisis by January 2027 – Report‘Kano digital market to generate 100,000 jobs’Legend Hotel unveils Herbert Wigwe AuditoriumTinubu’s reaction on November 1, to his credit, was neither equal nor opposite. It was softer. Nigeria, he said, was ready to work with the United States to resolve the war against terrorism, not genocide. And the Book of Proverbs did its thing again: “A soft answer turneth away wrath.” In the weeks that followed, both governments agreed to a Joint Working Group co-chaired by the two National Security Advisers.Training and intelligence sharing followed. Then, on May 16, a coordinated strike on ISIS hideouts in the Lake Chad area killed the group’s top leader, Abubakar Al-Minoki, and many of his lieutenants.American Special Operations Forces, Trump would later boast, had been deployed to equip Nigerian troops, and the collaboration was yielding results.And so to last Wednesday, when the Presidency released a letter from Trump dated July 6. Trump applauded Tinubu’s “decisive leadership on behalf of the Nigerian people,” his resolve to tackle “the violence affecting Christian communities,” and declared it “a true honour to stand with you in the fight against these terrorists.”He referenced the US-Nigeria 2026 Defence Cooperation Roadmap and looked forward to “continued discussions over the course of my Presidency.” From threats of an invasion to “a true honour” in under a year. Both presidents are now exchanging tokens of goodwill ahead of September’s UN General Assembly, which Tinubu is billed to attend.Now, I doubt if this softening happened by accident. Looking closely, you will find a woman’s fingerprints on it. In February, the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, an ordained pastor, as Trump would identify her, appeared at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, the holiest gathering on the American evangelical calendar and Trump’s home crowd.There, the American President singled her out as a “very respected woman.” She followed up with an interview on FOX News, the channel most firmly lodged in Republican good books. The Tinubu administration must have thought, “If the anxiety in the White House was about Nigerian Christians, who better to calm those nerves than the President’s wife, who is a pastor?” And so, the pastor went ahead of the politician.There were also reports that the administration engaged Washington lobbyists to smooth its image ahead of the pastor’s visit. The Presidency has not been eager to discuss the details. But if those reports are true, then somewhere in DCI Group’s office, a lobbyist must have read Trump’s letter and felt quite justified in having earned his pay.Not everyone is clapping, of course. The opposition smells choreography. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s camp has been playing the accuser in the same field, and the Allied People’s Movement accused the Presidency of twisting Trump’s letter to recast an anti-terror partnership as a re-election campaign. But the Presidency fired back last Thursday that Atiku was “undermining Nigeria” by lobbying against his own country abroad. In the whole back-and-forth, I couldn’t help but notice that both—no, all—sides agree that the White House’s opinion matters enormously in 2027.It’s safe to say that the battleground of 2027 politics, and those before it, has never been the grassroots alone. It has always had an American or UK annex.Meanwhile, while Tinubu and Trump warm up to dance in New York, Vice President Kashim Shettima led an expedition of six governors to Cotonou, Benin Republic.I must confess, I imagined that the VP was probably going to import Tokunbo cars. After all, the city has fed our appetite for fairly used cars for decades. Still, I half-expected the VP to return with a convoy of accident-free, first-body Camrys, buy-and-drive.But the VP’s office said the mission was textiles. It said Benin Republic’s Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone is one of West Africa’s success stories, taking the region’s cotton and spinning it into garments for export; the very value-addition sermon Tinubu preached at the Africa CEO Forum in Rwanda.Shettima, the statement says, went to study how our small neighbour succeeded, presumably so Nigeria, which grows more cotton than Benin, can stop exporting fibre and importing clothes. First, he designated Nigeria a CPC and then threatened to move in, guns blazing, if the government did nothing about it.The lion was always awake, but it was now staring at Aso Rock. As I wrote last November, Trump’s threats were like Isaac Newton’s First Law storming Aso Rock. It says an object at rest, in this case (you fill in the gaps), will remain at rest until acted upon by an external force. Suddenly, the long-stalled ambassadorial nominations were expedited, press conferences by the Federal Government intensified, and the Federal Executive Council reconvened after a three-month hiatus.Related News16 million Nigerians to face hunger crisis by January 2027 – Report‘Kano digital market to generate 100,000 jobs’Legend Hotel unveils Herbert Wigwe AuditoriumTinubu’s reaction on November 1, to his credit, was neither equal nor opposite. It was softer. Nigeria, he said, was ready to work with the United States to resolve the war against terrorism, not genocide. And the Book of Proverbs did its thing again: “A soft answer turneth away wrath.” In the weeks that followed, both governments agreed to a Joint Working Group co-chaired by the two National Security Advisers.Training and intelligence sharing followed. Then, on May 16, a coordinated strike on ISIS hideouts in the Lake Chad area killed the group’s top leader, Abubakar Al-Minoki, and many of his lieutenants.American Special Operations Forces, Trump would later boast, had been deployed to equip Nigerian troops, and the collaboration was yielding results.And so to last Wednesday, when the Presidency released a letter from Trump dated July 6. Trump applauded Tinubu’s “decisive leadership on behalf of the Nigerian people,” his resolve to tackle “the violence affecting Christian communities,” and declared it “a true honour to stand with you in the fight against these terrorists.”He referenced the US-Nigeria 2026 Defence Cooperation Roadmap and looked forward to “continued discussions over the course of my Presidency.” From threats of an invasion to “a true honour” in under a year. Both presidents are now exchanging tokens of goodwill ahead of September’s UN General Assembly, which Tinubu is billed to attend.Now, I doubt if this softening happened by accident. Looking closely, you will find a woman’s fingerprints on it. In February, the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, an ordained pastor, as Trump would identify her, appeared at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, the holiest gathering on the American evangelical calendar and Trump’s home crowd.There, the American President singled her out as a “very respected woman.” She followed up with an interview on FOX News, the channel most firmly lodged in Republican good books. The Tinubu administration must have thought, “If the anxiety in the White House was about Nigerian Christians, who better to calm those nerves than the President’s wife, who is a pastor?” And so, the pastor went ahead of the politician.There were also reports that the administration engaged Washington lobbyists to smooth its image ahead of the pastor’s visit. The Presidency has not been eager to discuss the details. But if those reports are true, then somewhere in DCI Group’s office, a lobbyist must have read Trump’s letter and felt quite justified in having earned his pay.Not everyone is clapping, of course. The opposition smells choreography. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s camp has been playing the accuser in the same field, and the Allied People’s Movement accused the Presidency of twisting Trump’s letter to recast an anti-terror partnership as a re-election campaign. But the Presidency fired back last Thursday that Atiku was “undermining Nigeria” by lobbying against his own country abroad. In the whole back-and-forth, I couldn’t help but notice that both—no, all—sides agree that the White House’s opinion matters enormously in 2027.It’s safe to say that the battleground of 2027 politics, and those before it, has never been the grassroots alone. It has always had an American or UK annex.Meanwhile, while Tinubu and Trump warm up to dance in New York, Vice President Kashim Shettima led an expedition of six governors to Cotonou, Benin Republic.I must confess, I imagined that the VP was probably going to import Tokunbo cars. After all, the city has fed our appetite for fairly used cars for decades. Still, I half-expected the VP to return with a convoy of accident-free, first-body Camrys, buy-and-drive.But the VP’s office said the mission was textiles. It said Benin Republic’s Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone is one of West Africa’s success stories, taking the region’s cotton and spinning it into garments for export; the very value-addition sermon Tinubu preached at the Africa CEO Forum in Rwanda.Shettima, the statement says, went to study how our small neighbour succeeded, presumably so Nigeria, which grows more cotton than Benin, can stop exporting fibre and importing clothes. The lion was always awake, but it was now staring at Aso Rock. As I wrote last November, Trump’s threats were like Isaac Newton’s First Law storming Aso Rock. It says an object at rest, in this case (you fill in the gaps), will remain at rest until acted upon by an external force. Suddenly, the long-stalled ambassadorial nominations were expedited, press conferences by the Federal Government intensified, and the Federal Executive Council reconvened after a three-month hiatus.Related News16 million Nigerians to face hunger crisis by January 2027 – Report‘Kano digital market to generate 100,000 jobs’Legend Hotel unveils Herbert Wigwe AuditoriumTinubu’s reaction on November 1, to his credit, was neither equal nor opposite. It was softer. Nigeria, he said, was ready to work with the United States to resolve the war against terrorism, not genocide. And the Book of Proverbs did its thing again: “A soft answer turneth away wrath.” In the weeks that followed, both governments agreed to a Joint Working Group co-chaired by the two National Security Advisers.Training and intelligence sharing followed. Then, on May 16, a coordinated strike on ISIS hideouts in the Lake Chad area killed the group’s top leader, Abubakar Al-Minoki, and many of his lieutenants.American Special Operations Forces, Trump would later boast, had been deployed to equip Nigerian troops, and the collaboration was yielding results.And so to last Wednesday, when the Presidency released a letter from Trump dated July 6. Trump applauded Tinubu’s “decisive leadership on behalf of the Nigerian people,” his resolve to tackle “the violence affecting Christian communities,” and declared it “a true honour to stand with you in the fight against these terrorists.”He referenced the US-Nigeria 2026 Defence Cooperation Roadmap and looked forward to “continued discussions over the course of my Presidency.” From threats of an invasion to “a true honour” in under a year. Both presidents are now exchanging tokens of goodwill ahead of September’s UN General Assembly, which Tinubu is billed to attend.Now, I doubt if this softening happened by accident. Looking closely, you will find a woman’s fingerprints on it. In February, the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, an ordained pastor, as Trump would identify her, appeared at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, the holiest gathering on the American evangelical calendar and Trump’s home crowd.There, the American President singled her out as a “very respected woman.” She followed up with an interview on FOX News, the channel most firmly lodged in Republican good books. The Tinubu administration must have thought, “If the anxiety in the White House was about Nigerian Christians, who better to calm those nerves than the President’s wife, who is a pastor?” And so, the pastor went ahead of the politician.There were also reports that the administration engaged Washington lobbyists to smooth its image ahead of the pastor’s visit. The Presidency has not been eager to discuss the details. But if those reports are true, then somewhere in DCI Group’s office, a lobbyist must have read Trump’s letter and felt quite justified in having earned his pay.Not everyone is clapping, of course. The opposition smells choreography. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s camp has been playing the accuser in the same field, and the Allied People’s Movement accused the Presidency of twisting Trump’s letter to recast an anti-terror partnership as a re-election campaign. But the Presidency fired back last Thursday that Atiku was “undermining Nigeria” by lobbying against his own country abroad. In the whole back-and-forth, I couldn’t help but notice that both—no, all—sides agree that the White House’s opinion matters enormously in 2027.It’s safe to say that the battleground of 2027 politics, and those before it, has never been the grassroots alone. It has always had an American or UK annex.Meanwhile, while Tinubu and Trump warm up to dance in New York, Vice President Kashim Shettima led an expedition of six governors to Cotonou, Benin Republic.I must confess, I imagined that the VP was probably going to import Tokunbo cars. After all, the city has fed our appetite for fairly used cars for decades. Still, I half-expected the VP to return with a convoy of accident-free, first-body Camrys, buy-and-drive.But the VP’s office said the mission was textiles. It said Benin Republic’s Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone is one of West Africa’s success stories, taking the region’s cotton and spinning it into garments for export; the very value-addition sermon Tinubu preached at the Africa CEO Forum in Rwanda.Shettima, the statement says, went to study how our small neighbour succeeded, presumably so Nigeria, which grows more cotton than Benin, can stop exporting fibre and importing clothes. Tinubu’s reaction on November 1, to his credit, was neither equal nor opposite. It was softer. Nigeria, he said, was ready to work with the United States to resolve the war against terrorism, not genocide. And the Book of Proverbs did its thing again: “A soft answer turneth away wrath.” In the weeks that followed, both governments agreed to a Joint Working Group co-chaired by the two National Security Advisers.Training and intelligence sharing followed. Then, on May 16, a coordinated strike on ISIS hideouts in the Lake Chad area killed the group’s top leader, Abubakar Al-Minoki, and many of his lieutenants.American Special Operations Forces, Trump would later boast, had been deployed to equip Nigerian troops, and the collaboration was yielding results.And so to last Wednesday, when the Presidency released a letter from Trump dated July 6. Trump applauded Tinubu’s “decisive leadership on behalf of the Nigerian people,” his resolve to tackle “the violence affecting Christian communities,” and declared it “a true honour to stand with you in the fight against these terrorists.”He referenced the US-Nigeria 2026 Defence Cooperation Roadmap and looked forward to “continued discussions over the course of my Presidency.” From threats of an invasion to “a true honour” in under a year. Both presidents are now exchanging tokens of goodwill ahead of September’s UN General Assembly, which Tinubu is billed to attend.Now, I doubt if this softening happened by accident. Looking closely, you will find a woman’s fingerprints on it. In February, the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, an ordained pastor, as Trump would identify her, appeared at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, the holiest gathering on the American evangelical calendar and Trump’s home crowd.There, the American President singled her out as a “very respected woman.” She followed up with an interview on FOX News, the channel most firmly lodged in Republican good books. The Tinubu administration must have thought, “If the anxiety in the White House was about Nigerian Christians, who better to calm those nerves than the President’s wife, who is a pastor?” And so, the pastor went ahead of the politician.There were also reports that the administration engaged Washington lobbyists to smooth its image ahead of the pastor’s visit. The Presidency has not been eager to discuss the details. But if those reports are true, then somewhere in DCI Group’s office, a lobbyist must have read Trump’s letter and felt quite justified in having earned his pay.Not everyone is clapping, of course. The opposition smells choreography. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s camp has been playing the accuser in the same field, and the Allied People’s Movement accused the Presidency of twisting Trump’s letter to recast an anti-terror partnership as a re-election campaign. But the Presidency fired back last Thursday that Atiku was “undermining Nigeria” by lobbying against his own country abroad. In the whole back-and-forth, I couldn’t help but notice that both—no, all—sides agree that the White House’s opinion matters enormously in 2027.It’s safe to say that the battleground of 2027 politics, and those before it, has never been the grassroots alone. It has always had an American or UK annex.Meanwhile, while Tinubu and Trump warm up to dance in New York, Vice President Kashim Shettima led an expedition of six governors to Cotonou, Benin Republic.I must confess, I imagined that the VP was probably going to import Tokunbo cars. After all, the city has fed our appetite for fairly used cars for decades. Still, I half-expected the VP to return with a convoy of accident-free, first-body Camrys, buy-and-drive.But the VP’s office said the mission was textiles. It said Benin Republic’s Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone is one of West Africa’s success stories, taking the region’s cotton and spinning it into garments for export; the very value-addition sermon Tinubu preached at the Africa CEO Forum in Rwanda.Shettima, the statement says, went to study how our small neighbour succeeded, presumably so Nigeria, which grows more cotton than Benin, can stop exporting fibre and importing clothes. Training and intelligence sharing followed. Then, on May 16, a coordinated strike on ISIS hideouts in the Lake Chad area killed the group’s top leader, Abubakar Al-Minoki, and many of his lieutenants.American Special Operations Forces, Trump would later boast, had been deployed to equip Nigerian troops, and the collaboration was yielding results.And so to last Wednesday, when the Presidency released a letter from Trump dated July 6. Trump applauded Tinubu’s “decisive leadership on behalf of the Nigerian people,” his resolve to tackle “the violence affecting Christian communities,” and declared it “a true honour to stand with you in the fight against these terrorists.”He referenced the US-Nigeria 2026 Defence Cooperation Roadmap and looked forward to “continued discussions over the course of my Presidency.” From threats of an invasion to “a true honour” in under a year. Both presidents are now exchanging tokens of goodwill ahead of September’s UN General Assembly, which Tinubu is billed to attend.Now, I doubt if this softening happened by accident. Looking closely, you will find a woman’s fingerprints on it. In February, the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, an ordained pastor, as Trump would identify her, appeared at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, the holiest gathering on the American evangelical calendar and Trump’s home crowd.There, the American President singled her out as a “very respected woman.” She followed up with an interview on FOX News, the channel most firmly lodged in Republican good books. The Tinubu administration must have thought, “If the anxiety in the White House was about Nigerian Christians, who better to calm those nerves than the President’s wife, who is a pastor?” And so, the pastor went ahead of the politician.There were also reports that the administration engaged Washington lobbyists to smooth its image ahead of the pastor’s visit. The Presidency has not been eager to discuss the details. But if those reports are true, then somewhere in DCI Group’s office, a lobbyist must have read Trump’s letter and felt quite justified in having earned his pay.Not everyone is clapping, of course. The opposition smells choreography. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s camp has been playing the accuser in the same field, and the Allied People’s Movement accused the Presidency of twisting Trump’s letter to recast an anti-terror partnership as a re-election campaign. But the Presidency fired back last Thursday that Atiku was “undermining Nigeria” by lobbying against his own country abroad. In the whole back-and-forth, I couldn’t help but notice that both—no, all—sides agree that the White House’s opinion matters enormously in 2027.It’s safe to say that the battleground of 2027 politics, and those before it, has never been the grassroots alone. It has always had an American or UK annex.Meanwhile, while Tinubu and Trump warm up to dance in New York, Vice President Kashim Shettima led an expedition of six governors to Cotonou, Benin Republic.I must confess, I imagined that the VP was probably going to import Tokunbo cars. After all, the city has fed our appetite for fairly used cars for decades. Still, I half-expected the VP to return with a convoy of accident-free, first-body Camrys, buy-and-drive.But the VP’s office said the mission was textiles. It said Benin Republic’s Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone is one of West Africa’s success stories, taking the region’s cotton and spinning it into garments for export; the very value-addition sermon Tinubu preached at the Africa CEO Forum in Rwanda.Shettima, the statement says, went to study how our small neighbour succeeded, presumably so Nigeria, which grows more cotton than Benin, can stop exporting fibre and importing clothes. American Special Operations Forces, Trump would later boast, had been deployed to equip Nigerian troops, and the collaboration was yielding results.And so to last Wednesday, when the Presidency released a letter from Trump dated July 6. Trump applauded Tinubu’s “decisive leadership on behalf of the Nigerian people,” his resolve to tackle “the violence affecting Christian communities,” and declared it “a true honour to stand with you in the fight against these terrorists.”He referenced the US-Nigeria 2026 Defence Cooperation Roadmap and looked forward to “continued discussions over the course of my Presidency.” From threats of an invasion to “a true honour” in under a year. Both presidents are now exchanging tokens of goodwill ahead of September’s UN General Assembly, which Tinubu is billed to attend.Now, I doubt if this softening happened by accident. Looking closely, you will find a woman’s fingerprints on it. In February, the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, an ordained pastor, as Trump would identify her, appeared at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, the holiest gathering on the American evangelical calendar and Trump’s home crowd.There, the American President singled her out as a “very respected woman.” She followed up with an interview on FOX News, the channel most firmly lodged in Republican good books. The Tinubu administration must have thought, “If the anxiety in the White House was about Nigerian Christians, who better to calm those nerves than the President’s wife, who is a pastor?” And so, the pastor went ahead of the politician.There were also reports that the administration engaged Washington lobbyists to smooth its image ahead of the pastor’s visit. The Presidency has not been eager to discuss the details. But if those reports are true, then somewhere in DCI Group’s office, a lobbyist must have read Trump’s letter and felt quite justified in having earned his pay.Not everyone is clapping, of course. The opposition smells choreography. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s camp has been playing the accuser in the same field, and the Allied People’s Movement accused the Presidency of twisting Trump’s letter to recast an anti-terror partnership as a re-election campaign. But the Presidency fired back last Thursday that Atiku was “undermining Nigeria” by lobbying against his own country abroad. In the whole back-and-forth, I couldn’t help but notice that both—no, all—sides agree that the White House’s opinion matters enormously in 2027.It’s safe to say that the battleground of 2027 politics, and those before it, has never been the grassroots alone. It has always had an American or UK annex.Meanwhile, while Tinubu and Trump warm up to dance in New York, Vice President Kashim Shettima led an expedition of six governors to Cotonou, Benin Republic.I must confess, I imagined that the VP was probably going to import Tokunbo cars. After all, the city has fed our appetite for fairly used cars for decades. Still, I half-expected the VP to return with a convoy of accident-free, first-body Camrys, buy-and-drive.But the VP’s office said the mission was textiles. It said Benin Republic’s Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone is one of West Africa’s success stories, taking the region’s cotton and spinning it into garments for export; the very value-addition sermon Tinubu preached at the Africa CEO Forum in Rwanda.Shettima, the statement says, went to study how our small neighbour succeeded, presumably so Nigeria, which grows more cotton than Benin, can stop exporting fibre and importing clothes. And so to last Wednesday, when the Presidency released a letter from Trump dated July 6. Trump applauded Tinubu’s “decisive leadership on behalf of the Nigerian people,” his resolve to tackle “the violence affecting Christian communities,” and declared it “a true honour to stand with you in the fight against these terrorists.”He referenced the US-Nigeria 2026 Defence Cooperation Roadmap and looked forward to “continued discussions over the course of my Presidency.” From threats of an invasion to “a true honour” in under a year. Both presidents are now exchanging tokens of goodwill ahead of September’s UN General Assembly, which Tinubu is billed to attend.Now, I doubt if this softening happened by accident. Looking closely, you will find a woman’s fingerprints on it. In February, the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, an ordained pastor, as Trump would identify her, appeared at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, the holiest gathering on the American evangelical calendar and Trump’s home crowd.There, the American President singled her out as a “very respected woman.” She followed up with an interview on FOX News, the channel most firmly lodged in Republican good books. The Tinubu administration must have thought, “If the anxiety in the White House was about Nigerian Christians, who better to calm those nerves than the President’s wife, who is a pastor?” And so, the pastor went ahead of the politician.There were also reports that the administration engaged Washington lobbyists to smooth its image ahead of the pastor’s visit. The Presidency has not been eager to discuss the details. But if those reports are true, then somewhere in DCI Group’s office, a lobbyist must have read Trump’s letter and felt quite justified in having earned his pay.Not everyone is clapping, of course. The opposition smells choreography. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s camp has been playing the accuser in the same field, and the Allied People’s Movement accused the Presidency of twisting Trump’s letter to recast an anti-terror partnership as a re-election campaign. But the Presidency fired back last Thursday that Atiku was “undermining Nigeria” by lobbying against his own country abroad. In the whole back-and-forth, I couldn’t help but notice that both—no, all—sides agree that the White House’s opinion matters enormously in 2027.It’s safe to say that the battleground of 2027 politics, and those before it, has never been the grassroots alone. It has always had an American or UK annex.Meanwhile, while Tinubu and Trump warm up to dance in New York, Vice President Kashim Shettima led an expedition of six governors to Cotonou, Benin Republic.I must confess, I imagined that the VP was probably going to import Tokunbo cars. After all, the city has fed our appetite for fairly used cars for decades. Still, I half-expected the VP to return with a convoy of accident-free, first-body Camrys, buy-and-drive.But the VP’s office said the mission was textiles. It said Benin Republic’s Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone is one of West Africa’s success stories, taking the region’s cotton and spinning it into garments for export; the very value-addition sermon Tinubu preached at the Africa CEO Forum in Rwanda.Shettima, the statement says, went to study how our small neighbour succeeded, presumably so Nigeria, which grows more cotton than Benin, can stop exporting fibre and importing clothes. He referenced the US-Nigeria 2026 Defence Cooperation Roadmap and looked forward to “continued discussions over the course of my Presidency.” From threats of an invasion to “a true honour” in under a year. Both presidents are now exchanging tokens of goodwill ahead of September’s UN General Assembly, which Tinubu is billed to attend.Now, I doubt if this softening happened by accident. Looking closely, you will find a woman’s fingerprints on it. In February, the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, an ordained pastor, as Trump would identify her, appeared at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, the holiest gathering on the American evangelical calendar and Trump’s home crowd.There, the American President singled her out as a “very respected woman.” She followed up with an interview on FOX News, the channel most firmly lodged in Republican good books. The Tinubu administration must have thought, “If the anxiety in the White House was about Nigerian Christians, who better to calm those nerves than the President’s wife, who is a pastor?” And so, the pastor went ahead of the politician.There were also reports that the administration engaged Washington lobbyists to smooth its image ahead of the pastor’s visit. The Presidency has not been eager to discuss the details. But if those reports are true, then somewhere in DCI Group’s office, a lobbyist must have read Trump’s letter and felt quite justified in having earned his pay.Not everyone is clapping, of course. The opposition smells choreography. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s camp has been playing the accuser in the same field, and the Allied People’s Movement accused the Presidency of twisting Trump’s letter to recast an anti-terror partnership as a re-election campaign. But the Presidency fired back last Thursday that Atiku was “undermining Nigeria” by lobbying against his own country abroad. In the whole back-and-forth, I couldn’t help but notice that both—no, all—sides agree that the White House’s opinion matters enormously in 2027.It’s safe to say that the battleground of 2027 politics, and those before it, has never been the grassroots alone. It has always had an American or UK annex.Meanwhile, while Tinubu and Trump warm up to dance in New York, Vice President Kashim Shettima led an expedition of six governors to Cotonou, Benin Republic.I must confess, I imagined that the VP was probably going to import Tokunbo cars. After all, the city has fed our appetite for fairly used cars for decades. Still, I half-expected the VP to return with a convoy of accident-free, first-body Camrys, buy-and-drive.But the VP’s office said the mission was textiles. It said Benin Republic’s Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone is one of West Africa’s success stories, taking the region’s cotton and spinning it into garments for export; the very value-addition sermon Tinubu preached at the Africa CEO Forum in Rwanda.Shettima, the statement says, went to study how our small neighbour succeeded, presumably so Nigeria, which grows more cotton than Benin, can stop exporting fibre and importing clothes. Now, I doubt if this softening happened by accident. Looking closely, you will find a woman’s fingerprints on it. In February, the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, an ordained pastor, as Trump would identify her, appeared at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, the holiest gathering on the American evangelical calendar and Trump’s home crowd.There, the American President singled her out as a “very respected woman.” She followed up with an interview on FOX News, the channel most firmly lodged in Republican good books. The Tinubu administration must have thought, “If the anxiety in the White House was about Nigerian Christians, who better to calm those nerves than the President’s wife, who is a pastor?” And so, the pastor went ahead of the politician.There were also reports that the administration engaged Washington lobbyists to smooth its image ahead of the pastor’s visit. The Presidency has not been eager to discuss the details. But if those reports are true, then somewhere in DCI Group’s office, a lobbyist must have read Trump’s letter and felt quite justified in having earned his pay.Not everyone is clapping, of course. The opposition smells choreography. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s camp has been playing the accuser in the same field, and the Allied People’s Movement accused the Presidency of twisting Trump’s letter to recast an anti-terror partnership as a re-election campaign. But the Presidency fired back last Thursday that Atiku was “undermining Nigeria” by lobbying against his own country abroad. In the whole back-and-forth, I couldn’t help but notice that both—no, all—sides agree that the White House’s opinion matters enormously in 2027.It’s safe to say that the battleground of 2027 politics, and those before it, has never been the grassroots alone. It has always had an American or UK annex.Meanwhile, while Tinubu and Trump warm up to dance in New York, Vice President Kashim Shettima led an expedition of six governors to Cotonou, Benin Republic.I must confess, I imagined that the VP was probably going to import Tokunbo cars. After all, the city has fed our appetite for fairly used cars for decades. Still, I half-expected the VP to return with a convoy of accident-free, first-body Camrys, buy-and-drive.But the VP’s office said the mission was textiles. It said Benin Republic’s Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone is one of West Africa’s success stories, taking the region’s cotton and spinning it into garments for export; the very value-addition sermon Tinubu preached at the Africa CEO Forum in Rwanda.Shettima, the statement says, went to study how our small neighbour succeeded, presumably so Nigeria, which grows more cotton than Benin, can stop exporting fibre and importing clothes. There, the American President singled her out as a “very respected woman.” She followed up with an interview on FOX News, the channel most firmly lodged in Republican good books. The Tinubu administration must have thought, “If the anxiety in the White House was about Nigerian Christians, who better to calm those nerves than the President’s wife, who is a pastor?” And so, the pastor went ahead of the politician.There were also reports that the administration engaged Washington lobbyists to smooth its image ahead of the pastor’s visit. The Presidency has not been eager to discuss the details. But if those reports are true, then somewhere in DCI Group’s office, a lobbyist must have read Trump’s letter and felt quite justified in having earned his pay.Not everyone is clapping, of course. The opposition smells choreography. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s camp has been playing the accuser in the same field, and the Allied People’s Movement accused the Presidency of twisting Trump’s letter to recast an anti-terror partnership as a re-election campaign. But the Presidency fired back last Thursday that Atiku was “undermining Nigeria” by lobbying against his own country abroad. In the whole back-and-forth, I couldn’t help but notice that both—no, all—sides agree that the White House’s opinion matters enormously in 2027.It’s safe to say that the battleground of 2027 politics, and those before it, has never been the grassroots alone. It has always had an American or UK annex.Meanwhile, while Tinubu and Trump warm up to dance in New York, Vice President Kashim Shettima led an expedition of six governors to Cotonou, Benin Republic.I must confess, I imagined that the VP was probably going to import Tokunbo cars. After all, the city has fed our appetite for fairly used cars for decades. Still, I half-expected the VP to return with a convoy of accident-free, first-body Camrys, buy-and-drive.But the VP’s office said the mission was textiles. It said Benin Republic’s Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone is one of West Africa’s success stories, taking the region’s cotton and spinning it into garments for export; the very value-addition sermon Tinubu preached at the Africa CEO Forum in Rwanda.Shettima, the statement says, went to study how our small neighbour succeeded, presumably so Nigeria, which grows more cotton than Benin, can stop exporting fibre and importing clothes. There were also reports that the administration engaged Washington lobbyists to smooth its image ahead of the pastor’s visit. The Presidency has not been eager to discuss the details. But if those reports are true, then somewhere in DCI Group’s office, a lobbyist must have read Trump’s letter and felt quite justified in having earned his pay.Not everyone is clapping, of course. The opposition smells choreography. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s camp has been playing the accuser in the same field, and the Allied People’s Movement accused the Presidency of twisting Trump’s letter to recast an anti-terror partnership as a re-election campaign. But the Presidency fired back last Thursday that Atiku was “undermining Nigeria” by lobbying against his own country abroad. In the whole back-and-forth, I couldn’t help but notice that both—no, all—sides agree that the White House’s opinion matters enormously in 2027.It’s safe to say that the battleground of 2027 politics, and those before it, has never been the grassroots alone. It has always had an American or UK annex.Meanwhile, while Tinubu and Trump warm up to dance in New York, Vice President Kashim Shettima led an expedition of six governors to Cotonou, Benin Republic.I must confess, I imagined that the VP was probably going to import Tokunbo cars. After all, the city has fed our appetite for fairly used cars for decades. Still, I half-expected the VP to return with a convoy of accident-free, first-body Camrys, buy-and-drive.But the VP’s office said the mission was textiles. It said Benin Republic’s Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone is one of West Africa’s success stories, taking the region’s cotton and spinning it into garments for export; the very value-addition sermon Tinubu preached at the Africa CEO Forum in Rwanda.Shettima, the statement says, went to study how our small neighbour succeeded, presumably so Nigeria, which grows more cotton than Benin, can stop exporting fibre and importing clothes. Not everyone is clapping, of course. The opposition smells choreography. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s camp has been playing the accuser in the same field, and the Allied People’s Movement accused the Presidency of twisting Trump’s letter to recast an anti-terror partnership as a re-election campaign. But the Presidency fired back last Thursday that Atiku was “undermining Nigeria” by lobbying against his own country abroad. In the whole back-and-forth, I couldn’t help but notice that both—no, all—sides agree that the White House’s opinion matters enormously in 2027.It’s safe to say that the battleground of 2027 politics, and those before it, has never been the grassroots alone. It has always had an American or UK annex.Meanwhile, while Tinubu and Trump warm up to dance in New York, Vice President Kashim Shettima led an expedition of six governors to Cotonou, Benin Republic.I must confess, I imagined that the VP was probably going to import Tokunbo cars. After all, the city has fed our appetite for fairly used cars for decades. Still, I half-expected the VP to return with a convoy of accident-free, first-body Camrys, buy-and-drive.But the VP’s office said the mission was textiles. It said Benin Republic’s Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone is one of West Africa’s success stories, taking the region’s cotton and spinning it into garments for export; the very value-addition sermon Tinubu preached at the Africa CEO Forum in Rwanda.Shettima, the statement says, went to study how our small neighbour succeeded, presumably so Nigeria, which grows more cotton than Benin, can stop exporting fibre and importing clothes. It’s safe to say that the battleground of 2027 politics, and those before it, has never been the grassroots alone. It has always had an American or UK annex.Meanwhile, while Tinubu and Trump warm up to dance in New York, Vice President Kashim Shettima led an expedition of six governors to Cotonou, Benin Republic.I must confess, I imagined that the VP was probably going to import Tokunbo cars. After all, the city has fed our appetite for fairly used cars for decades. Still, I half-expected the VP to return with a convoy of accident-free, first-body Camrys, buy-and-drive.But the VP’s office said the mission was textiles. It said Benin Republic’s Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone is one of West Africa’s success stories, taking the region’s cotton and spinning it into garments for export; the very value-addition sermon Tinubu preached at the Africa CEO Forum in Rwanda.Shettima, the statement says, went to study how our small neighbour succeeded, presumably so Nigeria, which grows more cotton than Benin, can stop exporting fibre and importing clothes. Meanwhile, while Tinubu and Trump warm up to dance in New York, Vice President Kashim Shettima led an expedition of six governors to Cotonou, Benin Republic.I must confess, I imagined that the VP was probably going to import Tokunbo cars. After all, the city has fed our appetite for fairly used cars for decades. Still, I half-expected the VP to return with a convoy of accident-free, first-body Camrys, buy-and-drive.But the VP’s office said the mission was textiles. It said Benin Republic’s Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone is one of West Africa’s success stories, taking the region’s cotton and spinning it into garments for export; the very value-addition sermon Tinubu preached at the Africa CEO Forum in Rwanda.Shettima, the statement says, went to study how our small neighbour succeeded, presumably so Nigeria, which grows more cotton than Benin, can stop exporting fibre and importing clothes. I must confess, I imagined that the VP was probably going to import Tokunbo cars. After all, the city has fed our appetite for fairly used cars for decades. Still, I half-expected the VP to return with a convoy of accident-free, first-body Camrys, buy-and-drive.But the VP’s office said the mission was textiles. It said Benin Republic’s Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone is one of West Africa’s success stories, taking the region’s cotton and spinning it into garments for export; the very value-addition sermon Tinubu preached at the Africa CEO Forum in Rwanda.Shettima, the statement says, went to study how our small neighbour succeeded, presumably so Nigeria, which grows more cotton than Benin, can stop exporting fibre and importing clothes. But the VP’s office said the mission was textiles. It said Benin Republic’s Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone is one of West Africa’s success stories, taking the region’s cotton and spinning it into garments for export; the very value-addition sermon Tinubu preached at the Africa CEO Forum in Rwanda.Shettima, the statement says, went to study how our small neighbour succeeded, presumably so Nigeria, which grows more cotton than Benin, can stop exporting fibre and importing clothes. Shettima, the statement says, went to study how our small neighbour succeeded, presumably so Nigeria, which grows more cotton than Benin, can stop exporting fibre and importing clothes.