Just as U.S. forces were assisting Nigeria in repelling a terrorist attack, the country's first lady assured Newsmax that her husband has a good relationship with President Donald Trump and that they would work together to deal with the wave of terrorism sweeping Africa's largest democracy.
Oluremi Tinubu, wife of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, spoke to us in Washington, only hours after armed extremists killed over 160 people in the villages of Woro and Nuku in the central-western state of Kwara.
In response, Air Force Gen. Dagvin Anderson, head of U.S. Africa Command, told reporters Tuesday night that the U.S. dispatched a small team of troops to assist Nigerian forces in repelling the terrorists — the first time the U.S. acknowledged it had forces there since Trump ordered an airstrike on select targets in Nigeria on Christmas Day.
As to whether Trump and her husband (whom she called "Mr. President") worked well together, Mrs. Tinubu replied without hesitation: "I believe so."
She said the two leaders had spoken only on the telephone, "but Mr. President looks forward to meeting President Trump. I will see him and wave at him during the National Prayer Breakfast" set for Thursday in Washington.
There has been some confusion over the U.S. airstrikes hitting the part of Nigeria in which Boko Haram — the notorious terrorist group whose name in Arabic means "against all things Western" — is not a force.
But Mrs. Tinubu's adviser, Idayat Hassan, explained that Boko Haram has several offshoots such as the Islamic State West Africa Province.
"And there is the Islamic State Sahel Province, which operates in the northwest that borders Niger," she said.
We asked Mrs. Tinubu whether her husband would roll back the heavy-handed relationship Nigeria developed with China under President Muhammadu Buhari in the eight years before her husband's election in 2023.
According to a World Bank International Development Association Report in 2022, Nigeria owes China $3.9 billion, and no less than 66% of the African country's debt service payments are to China.
Moreover, 11 infrastructure projects in Nigeria are funded by China — among them the deep sea port in Lagos (the largest city, of which Bola Ahmed Tinubu was previously governor), which is valued at $1.5 billion and 75% owned by China.
"The Chinese made considerable gains under President Buhari," the first lady replied. "He was president and made that decision.
"When you are desperate, you are forced to do things you don't want to do. So I told people we didn't come to blame any previous administration."
Whether Nigeria will reverse those gains, she told us: "I can't say that to you. It will be up to Mr. President and President Trump to address that."
Recalling how her husband wooed private investment to Lagos as governor, she said: "Lagos was businesswise, with much private investment. Nigeria cannot be built by itself.
"A lot of things have gone wrong. Now we're looking for credible investors.
"We're trying to rewrite the wrongs of the past. And go from there and have a credible nation that at least will gain its respect among nations."
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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