GROUP MOCK ATIKU AFTER TRUMP’S COMICAL MEETING WITH 5 AFRICANS LEADERS

The Tinubu Media Support Group (TMSG) has lashed out at former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in the aftermath of the awkward moments that characterised the recent meeting between US President Donald Trump and five African leaders.

The former Vice President had recently mocked President Bola Tinubu for not being invited to the multilateral summit where none of Africa’s economic giants were invited.

But in a statement, TMSG said Trump’s public engagement with the African leaders smacked of disrespect to sovereign heads of their respective nations.

Recall that the former Vice President had claimed that Nigeria’s non-invitation to the multilateral summit with 5 African countries was a reflection of the country’s poor global rating on President Bola Tinubu’s watch.

But in a statement signed by its Chairman, Emeka Nwankpa, and Secretary, Dapo Okubanjo, TMSG noted that the awkward moments at the summit are a fitting response to Atiku’s mockery of Nigeria.

We are aware that at the opening session of the summit with the leaders of Mauritania, Gabon, Guinea Bissau, Liberia and Senegal, the US President invited each of them to introduce themselves and their country almost in a condescending manner.

That was shortly after the Mauritanian President, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, who began to talk about his country’s location and rare mineral resources, was abruptly cut off by Trump.

And not long after, he complimented the Liberian President, Joseph Boakai, on his English speaking skills, even though English is the country’s official language as a former American colony.

“For us, that engagement in the public space was not only condescending, it was a clear indication of why President Tinubu and other major African leaders were never invited for that meeting.”

TMSG also alluded to the reaction trailing Trump’s meeting with the African leaders and concluded that it was at variance with the expectations of former Vice President who derided President Tinubu’s non-invitation.

It is not surprising that the entire continent is awash with sharp reactions, and we hope Atiku and his media handlers who issued that poorly thought-out statement, criticising Nigeria’s non-invitation, are paying close attention.

The former Vice President had claimed that Nigeria was not invited because it was no longer respected globally because of its ‘reduced diplomatic standing’ under President Tinubu.

But we wonder what Atiku’s reaction is to the treatment Trump gave the 5 African leaders he had claimed the US regarded higher than Tinubu, the group said.

It insisted that President Tinubu would never have been poorly treated by his American counterpart.

Understandably, many people in Africa believe that those awkward moments were a result of the calibre of countries and leaders invited to the meeting with Trump.

We cannot agree more and dare say that the US President, by his usual mood swings, would have been more cautious and restrained if he had to deal with countries the US has better economic ties with.

We think it is worth reiterating that as America’s second-largest trade partner in Africa, Nigeria could never have been invited to a multilateral summit alongside smaller African countries.

Any invite to Nigeria would have been for a country-to-country roundtable economic discussion similar to what President Tinubu recently had with the Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva on the sidelines of the BRICS summit.

So we think it is high time Nigeria’s political elite stopped downgrading the country’s standing in the comity of nations because of petty politics, the group added.