Ex-Envoy Questions Nigeria-US Tie Without Ambassadors
Ambassador Ayoola Olukanni has questioned Nigeria’s relationship with the United States following the swearing-in of Donald Trump as the 47th US president.
Olukanni, a former Nigeria diplomat to Austria, said with the country not having any ambassador in the US, the relationship between both nations is questionable.
The diplomat who said Trump may not be interested in Africa, however, wondered how Nigeria would deepen its ties with the US without an ambassador.
“And unfortunately, the Trump administration came in yesterday, no ambassador in Washington. No ambassador in the UK,”
“No ambassador in New York, in France, no in Russia. How do we want to engage the Trump administration without an ambassador on the ground in Washington? That’s the question I would like to ask you.”
Olukanni in further analysing Trump’s inaugural speech said the 47th US president did not provide practical solutions to the crisis in the Middle East and bring peace to the world.
“And watching President Donald Trump yesterday speak, it was like he was still campaigning in poetry: ‘I will end the wars,’ ‘I will bring peace to the world”. But what are the details that are involved, the nitty-gritty of it?
“This is what of course we have to deal with. I happen to have served twice in New York at the UN and then I also served in Tel Aviv, Israel. So, I’m not talking about theory, I’m talking about the question of the practical dimension of it.
“If he can swing the end of the war in Gaza, it will be a major, major, major history because of the implication of that crisis in Gaza.
“The question of peace in the Middle East is very, very important for the entire world as a whole. So if he can do it, that would be great.”
