Buhari, first son, 32 others Storm America

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari, Sunday, arrived the Joint Base Andrews Airport, Washington DC, to begin his four-day official visit to the United States.

With him is an official entourage of 33, including his son, Yusuf.

On the President’s entourage are Governors Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, Nasarawa; Adams Oshiomhole, Edo; Kashim Shettima, Borno; and Godwin Emefiele, CBN.

Others are Abiola Ajimobi, Rotimi Amaechi, Senator Hadi Sirika, Ambassador Paul Bulus Z, Ambassador Ayodele Oke, Alhaji Aliyu Ismaila, Ambassador A. A. Musa, Ambassador. G. B. Igali, Aliyu Yahaya Gusau, Dr. Mahmud Mohammed, Pastor Tunde Bakare, Ismaila Isa Funtua, Mr. Femi Adesina and Dr. Sanusi Rafindadi.

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The rest are Malam Garba, Mohammed Sarki, Kalu Abba-Snr, Ambassador Lawal A. Kazaure, Air Commodore N. B. Bali, Nura Rimi, Bashir Abubakar, Lt. Col. M. Lawal Abubakar, Abdulkarim Dauda, Yau Abdullahi, Sabiu Yusuf, Yusuf Maiyaki, Adamu Sambo, Emmanuel Anrihi, Bayo Omoboriowo, Baba Ujah, Lawal Mato (Snr), Gbenga Folagbade and Shehu Lawal Abubakar.

He was welcomed at the White House with a breakfast meeting of five at the Naval Observatory, the official residence of the US Vice President, Senator Joe Biden.

Apart from issues of common interest to Nigeria and the US such as security and trade, one of the high points of the visit is Buhari’s expected lecture at the United States Institute of Peace, USIP, Thursday.

The lecture, which would have been held last February at the peak of the March 28 presidential campaigns, will offer Buhari an opportunity to highlight his policy direction and expectations to a large audience of US policy makers, academics, business leaders, and Nigerians in the Diaspora.

Among other engagements, President Buhari will hold talks with Dr. Muhammad Ali Pate of the World Health Organisation, WHO, on economic assistance programme for the North-East and other important stakeholders on Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, a bilateral meeting with Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, US Trade Representative, Michael Froman.

The President will also hold talks on corruption with Loretta Lynch, US Attorney General; talks on strengthening the Nigerian economy with Jack Lew, US Secretary of the Treasury, Governor of the Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele, Permanent Secretary, MFA and Director General of the Budget as part of his team.

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Apart from receiving in audience the US Black Caucus in the House of Representatives, Buhari will be at the Capitol Hill, the equivalent of the National Assembly, holding sessions with the Senate and House committees on Foreign Affairs, with lunch hosted by US Secretary of State, John Kerry.

After his meeting with the US Director of the CIA, President Buhari will host his colleagues of the Class of 1980 of the US Army War College at the Nigerian Embassy and later meet with a group of potential investors in the agricultural sector, among others.