BMO fires back at Trump for calling Buhari ‘lifeless’

The Buhari Media Organisation, BMO, on Monday, rubbished the report by the United States, US, President, Donald Trump that President Muhammadu Buhari is a “lifeless President.”

BMO insisted that Buhari was fit and capable of running for the 2019 elections.
In a statement signed by the group’s Chairman and Secretary, Niyi Akinsiju and Cassidy Maduekwe, BMO noted that this was not the first time Trump was heard to make such derogatory remarks at World leaders, hence Buhari would not be distracted by such.

The statement reads, “President Muhammadu Buhari is fit and capable to run for the 2019 elections and oversee the affairs of the country for four more years President Donald Trump’s hate speech notwithstanding.
“We are aware that President Trump’s disrespect for World Leaders is not new; his comments on Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, calling him ‘meek and mild’; his reference to Germany’s Leader, Angela Merkel’s actions as ‘insane’, or his outlandish Tweet at the UK’s Theresa May, and more recently, the alleged remarks he made after meeting President Buhari.
“It is indeed not the first time President Trump would be heard to lower the standards of respect for his colleagues on the World Stage. We are not surprised, we know that this age-long character of the US President would not change anytime soon. But it is important that we put it on record that President Buhari remains fit and sprightly, even for the next decade.

“We recall that during President Buhari’s visit to Trump in the White House, the US President commended the successes that the Buhari administration had recorded especially in the fight against insurgency and the war on corruption.
“The US President was full of admiration for Nigeria’s President during the visit, thus such outlandish remarks as reported by the Financial Times are not just to be taken with a pinch of salt but are untrue in themselves.”

A new article released by world leading global business publication, Financial Times, claims that US president, Donald Trump, after his meeting with President Buhari on April 30th, told his aides that the Nigerian president was so ''lifeless'' and that he doesn't want to see such a ''lifeless'' person again.

Financial Times quoted Trump as saying this in an article titled Africa looks for something new out of Trump as Kenya president visits the White House.

“The first meeting, with Nigeria’s ailing 75-year-old Muhammadu Buhari in April, ended with the US president telling aides he never wanted to meet someone so lifeless again, according to three people familiar with the matter,” the newspaper claimed.

President Buhari is the first president from Sub-Saharan Africa to meet with the US president.

The Kenyan president will today August 27th, meet with President Trump where they will have bilateral discussions.

The newspaper added that advocates of closer US-Africa ties hope Trump's encounter with the 56-year-old Kenyan president, will foster a better US-Africa relationship.

However, President Trump had praised President Buhari during the joint-press conference after the meeting in April.

“Nigeria has a reputation for very massive corruption. I also know that the President has been able to cut that down very substantially. We talked about that, he is working on it and they have made a lot of progress and I think they will continue to make a lot of progress,” Trump said at the Press conference.

The Presidency is yet to react to this article.