Obama To Send High-powered Delegation To Buhari’s Inauguration

International interest in Nigeria’s political transition
and the planned transfer of power from the
Jonathan-Sambo presidency to the Buhari-
Osinbajo presidency billed May 29, has risen in
the United States as President Barack Obama now
considers sending a high-powered U.S. to the
event, officials said Wednesday.
U.S. government sources said that Mr. Obama is
considering who might lead the American
representatives at the event.
Besides, at least two US ivy universities-Harvard
and Yale – have since held special review sessions
where scholars were invited from around the
U.S. and the world to give lectures and seminars
on the outcome of the Nigerian elections,
focusing on the emergence of a former military
head of state, who is a Moslem from the North of
Nigeria, and a Christian pastor, who is a law
professor from the South as president-elect and
vice president-elect respectively.
Three names are already being mentioned in
official US and diplomatic circles including
Obama’s wife, the American First Lady, Michelle,
Vice President Joe Biden and the Secretary of
State, John Kerry, as the head of the presidential
delegation. From the U.S. Congress also, some of
the senior members are said to be planning to
attend the event including the Chairman of the US
House of Representatives Sub Committee on
Africa, Congressman Chris Smith.
The U.S. President normally announces a
delegation to the presidential inaugurations of
friendly nations being led by the Ambassador in
that country. But in rare occasions, he picks very
senior public officials as the head of delegation
when he wants to underscore and emphasis a
point of how the US highly regards the country
or the circumstances at a given point in time.
Nigeria’s Ambassador to the U.S., Ade Adefuye,
said, “I have been told that there would be an
unusually large American delegation that will
attend the presidential inauguration on May 29.”
He confirmed to journalists on Wednesday that
he has also been told that a very senior member
of the U.S. government is expected to lead the
delegation, but that there was no confirmation
yet.
The Nigerian Ambassador said he has been in
consultations with the U.S. State Department on
the matter, adding that President Goodluck
Jonathan has already extended an invitation to the
U.S. government.
“We are following up with the US government to
ensure a very large US presence at the
inauguration,” the Ambassador said Tuesday in
Washington DC.
Mr. Adefuye explained that “Nigeria’s profile has
been on the rise since after the election, the
concession by Jonathan, and with the smooth
transition that is going on”.
From the U.S. government to the business
sectors and think tanks, the level of excitement
about the anticipated peaceful transfer of power in
Nigeria and the outcome of the elections itself
producing the Buhari-Osinbajo ticket from an
opposition party, APC, has been quite
widespread.
Some of the U.S. groups that have been showing
keen interest to attend the inauguration and
pressuring the U.S. government to send a very
high-powered delegation are the Atlantic Council,
and the Constituency for Africa-groups known to
be very influential in Washington DC.
A U.S. State Department source noted that after
the elections, feelers were sent out to business
groups, think tanks on interests in attending the
Nigerian inauguration, and the “feedback has been
very encouraging,” said the source.
At the Yale University over the weekend, a group
of theologians-the Oxford Study Group on World
Christianity had their annual meeting and
participants disclosed that the Nigerian election
was one of the major discussions this year.
A top U.S. Professor who attended the meeting
said the Study Group composed of leading
scholars from around the world who considered
it significant that the Nigerian elections produced a
Pentecostal pastor as Vice President to a Moslem,
who had earlier been perceived not to be
religiously pluralistic. Last month also, the
Washington Post had published a report on its
faith pages on “How a Pentecostal Law Professor
Has Helped Reshape Nigerian Politics.”
Earlier Harvard Africa-American Program had
also held an academic review session on the
Nigerian election further revealing how widely
significant the issue has become here in the US.