The time has come for both Nigeria and the United States to deepen the
\nlong-standing relationship between the countries based on mutual trust,
\naccording to Nigeria\u2019s Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.<\/p>\n
Prof. Osinbajo spoke earlier today at the Presidential Villa while
\nreceiving the Commander of the US-Africa Command, General Thomas D.
\nWaldhauser and the American Ambassador in Nigeria, Honorable W. Stuart
\nSymington.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will be very open and willing to build a relationship based on trust,
\nso that we would benefit from it and of course our relationship as nations
\nwould benefit tremendously from it,\u201d the Acting President stated.<\/p>\n
Nigeria\u2019s relationship with the US, he observed, is a very important one
\n\u201cand has been so for many years, even so now at a time like this for us,\u201d
\nadding that the Federal Government is appreciative of US support over the
\nlast few years.<\/p>\n
According to him, it is the belief of the Buhari presidency that the
\nUnited States is committed to helping us with some of our challenges
\nespecially in the Northeast, explaining also that issues around human
\nrights concerns in the country should be viewed against the context of an
\nunusual kind of warfare with terrorists and insurgents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe kind of warfare we are engaged with in many ways are unprecedented
\nfor our military,\u201d the Ag. President said while noting the sheer brutality
\nand mindlessness of terrorists who are \u201cprepared to kill children in their
\nsleep, abduct girls and prepared to die, even using teenage girls as
\nsuicide bombers.\u201d<\/p>\n
He restated the readiness of the Buhari administration to conclusively end
\nthe problem \u201cas quickly as possible.\u201d He referred to attacks by remnants
\nand splinter groups from the terrorists, and added that nonetheless they
\ncan no longer launch military attacks.<\/p>\n
While emphasising on the support of the US so far, he stated that the
\nFederal Government will welcome more US military cooperation and also
\nassistance in dealing with the consequent humanitarian situation in the
\nNorthEast.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe US has been a reliable partner we can trust, especially from what the
\nUS has done in the past, we want to see how much more you can do for us
\nand the region,\u201d Prof. Osinbajo stated.<\/p>\n
In his remarks, the head of the US Africa Command, General Waldhauser
\nexpressed the readiness of the US government to \u201caccelerate\u201d its
\ncontributions, adding that there is a sense that \u201cwe want to get on and
\nsolve the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
He noted that his visit to Nigeria at this time is about developing
\nfurther \u201cthe friendship and trust that we have in common,\u201d while also
\nagreeing with the Ag. President that the brutality shown by the terrorists
\nis \u201cwhat we have never seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also speaking, Ambassador Symington said he had just concluded a visit to
\nall the geo-political zones of the country and has concluded that \u201cNigeria
\nis one of the greatest countries in the world with the potential to change
\nthe world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The time has come for both Nigeria and the United States to deepen the long-standing relationship between the countries based on mutual trust, according to Nigeria\u2019s Acting President Yemi Osinbajo,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n