Charles W. Corey
Washington, DC
The visit of Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua to the White House December 13 represents the beginning of a "new relationship" that will signal closer bilateral relations between Nigeria and the United States on a broad range of important issues.
Previewing the visit, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Todd J. Moss considered the U.S.-Nigeria relationship in a December 10 interview with USINFO.
"Because of the problems" that surrounded Nigeria's recent presidential election, Moss said, "there was a pause in our close relationship."
The U.S.-Nigeria relationship had been "very strong" under the previous Obasanjo government, which ran from 1999 until early 2007, he said, but the elections of April 2007, which brought Yar'Adua into office, were "deeply flawed."
The conduct of those elections, he said, "gave us some serious pause as to how close we could be. We expressed our concerns with the Nigerians ... and we set some very clear expectations. I am happy to say that, so far, those expectations have been met."
Moss said the expectations included allowing the electoral tribunals that are reviewing the elections "to move forward unimpeded by politics." As a direct result, he said, "we have already seen several governorships overturned. We have seen no evidence of political interference from the [presidential] villa in these tribunals or in the judicial process. We think that is moving forward in a very positive way. We want to continue to see that play out."
Moss said the United States and Nigeria are having a series of reciprocal visits and that Yar'Adua's White House visit is part of that process. Full Story
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