The Democratic Front (TDF) has described as embarrassing former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s criticism of President Bola Tinubu over the invitation by the US President Donald Trump to leaders of 5 African countries for a summit.
The invited countries are Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, Senegal and Gabon, but the former Vice President, out of ignorance, argued that it was a shame that Nigeria was excluded because of the country’s waning influence under Tinubu.
But in a statement signed by its Chairman, Mallam Danjuma Muhammad, and Secretary, Chief Wale Adedayo, TDF said that Atiku’s position showed a poor understanding of global political and economic affairs.
“We are even more disappointed at the failure of the former Vice President’s handlers and retinue of advisers to properly enlighten him on the reasons for US President Donald Trump’s invitation to the five African countries before he made a spectacle of his ignorance in the public space.
“For us, the US President reserves the right to foster economic ties with any country of his choice. Therefore, if he decides to promote his country’s socio-economic and political interests, with a specific target of smaller African countries, it can not include Nigeria.
“This is because, by demography, size, and economy, Nigeria does not belong in the category of African nations invited to a meeting with President Donald Trump.
“It is, however, regrettable that a former Vice President could descend to the level of making a mockery of the Bola Tinubu administration over the country’s absence from the list that does not include any African economic giant, even in West Africa.
“This is a reflection of his ignorance of the volume of trade between the US and Nigeria, which has been impressive in recent years.
“As a matter of fact, Nigeria and South Africa currently lead the African continent in trade partnership with the United States, and as such cannot be on the list of smaller African countries, the transactional US President is seeking fresh commercial opportunities with,” the statement added.
The group also used the opportunity to provide an insight into the high volume of bilateral trade between the US and Nigeria on President Tinubu’s watch.
It said: “We believe it is ideal to educate the former Vice President and his indolent handlers that, twice in recent days, the US Ambassador to Nigeria Richard Mills disclosed that bilateral trade between the two countries has soared to $13 billion, far beyond what was obtainable before the coming of the Tinubu administration to office.
“And this he attributed to the successes of the ongoing economic reengineering and fiscal transformation by President Tinubu, which has also seen US investments in Nigeria grow by 5.5% to $6.5 billion in the last two years.
“With Nigeria standing tall in the league of African nations with a high volume of trade with the United States, it would be foolhardy and asinine for anyone, much less a former Vice President of Nigeria, to categorise us among smaller West African countries invited for discussions with the US President.
“We make bold to say that none of those countries is in the top 15 of Africa’s biggest economies, but we also believe that the invitation extended to those countries is consistent with Trump’s desire to explore new economic opportunities for his country in Africa.
“However, this cannot resonate with Nigeria, being America’s major trading partner since the 1960s. Therefore, former Vice President Atiku goofed in his attempt to use Nigeria’s exclusion from the list of Trump’s invitees to sneer at President Tinubu’s globally acclaimed economic performance in the last two years.
“We are elated that, as espoused by US Richard Mills, Tinubu’s economic reforms have not only fostered economic ties between both countries but have also created opportunities for Americans and Nigerians.
“We at TDF consider it a sad commentary, that at the age of 78 years, Atiku Abubakar Atiku, who was privileged to have served Nigeria as Vice President will resort to a Machiavellian pursuit of political power through cunny and deceitful manipulation of the psyche of gullible Nigerians”
TDF urged Nigerians to continue to ignore Atiku, his shallow-thinking handlers, and also reject Atiku’s inordinate ambition to bid for the presidency come 2027.
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