Close Menu
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Trending
    • Tensions Mount In ADC As State Chairmen Reject Coalition Takeover Led by David Mark
    • Recapitalisation: Jaiz, Zenith, Three Other Banks Hit CBN Target Ahead Of Deadline
    • NNPC Slashes Petrol Price To N910 Per Litre In Abuja, Other States
    • NiMet Predicts Three-Day Rain, Thunderstorms Nationwide From Monday
    • Again Boko Haram Kills Nine In Borno, Governor Zulum Mourns
    • There Is Pain Behind That Smile. Just Do Your Bit – By Dr Hassan Gimba
    • What Can Nigeria Learn From China’s Electricity Revolution? – By Dr Dakuku Peterside
    • Amaechi: Nigerian Politicians And Doublespeak – By Kazeem Akintunde
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    NEWS POINT NIGERIANEWS POINT NIGERIA
    UBA 720X90
    • HOME
    • NEWS

      Tensions Mount In ADC As State Chairmen Reject Coalition Takeover Led by David Mark

      July 7, 2025

      Recapitalisation: Jaiz, Zenith, Three Other Banks Hit CBN Target Ahead Of Deadline

      July 7, 2025

      NNPC Slashes Petrol Price To N910 Per Litre In Abuja, Other States

      July 7, 2025

      NiMet Predicts Three-Day Rain, Thunderstorms Nationwide From Monday

      July 7, 2025

      Again Boko Haram Kills Nine In Borno, Governor Zulum Mourns

      July 6, 2025
    • COLUMN

      There Is Pain Behind That Smile. Just Do Your Bit – By Dr Hassan Gimba

      July 6, 2025

      What Can Nigeria Learn From China’s Electricity Revolution? – By Dr Dakuku Peterside

      July 6, 2025

      Amaechi: Nigerian Politicians And Doublespeak – By Kazeem Akintunde

      July 6, 2025

      Remembering ‘Watergate Scandal’ And Danger Of Crippling Opposition – By Martins Oloja

      July 6, 2025

      Don’t Kill Yourself Because He’s Cheating – By Funke Egbemode

      July 6, 2025
    • EDUCATION

      13 Countries Offering Free Or Low-Cost PhD Programmes For Non-Citizens

      January 25, 2025

      NECO: Abia, Imo Top Performing States In Two Years, Katsina, Zamfara Come Last

      October 3, 2024

      NBTE Accredits 17 Programmes At Federal Polytechnic Kabo

      August 20, 2024

      15 Most Expensive Universities In Nigeria

      May 19, 2024

      FULL LIST: Tinubu Appoints Former SGF Yayale, Ex-Governor Yuguda, Muhammad Abacha, Jega In Universities’ Governing Councils

      May 18, 2024
    • INTERNATIONAL

      Israeli Army Targets Gaza City With Heavy Strikes, Killing 39

      July 6, 2025

      French Intelligence Claims China Trying To Foil Global Sale Of Rafale Jets

      July 6, 2025

      Israel Sending Negotiating Team To Qatar For Gaza Ceasefire Talks

      July 6, 2025

      Texas Flood Kills 24 As Rescuers Search For Children Missing From Girls’ Camp

      July 6, 2025

      UN Says 613 Gaza Killings Recorded At Aid Sites, Near Humanitarian Convoys

      July 5, 2025
    • JUDICIARY

      FULL LIST: Judicial Council Recommends Appointment Of 11 Supreme Court Justices

      December 6, 2023

      Supreme Court: Judicial Council Screens 22 Nominees, Candidates Face DSS, Others

      November 29, 2023

      FULL LIST: Judicial Commission Nominates 22 Justices For Elevation To Supreme Court

      November 16, 2023

      Seven Key Issues Resolved By Seven Supreme Court Judges

      October 26, 2023

      FULL LIST: CJN To Swear In Falana’s Wife, 57 Others As SANs November 27

      October 12, 2023
    • POLITICS

      What Peter Obi May Lose If He Joins Coalition As VP Candidate

      May 25, 2025

      Atiku Moves To Unseat Wike’s Damagum As PDP Chairman, Backs Suswam As Replacement

      April 15, 2024

      Edo’s Senator Matthew Uroghide, Others Defect To APC

      April 13, 2024

      Finally, Wike Opens Up On Rift With Peter Odili

      April 2, 2024

      El-Rufa’i’s Debt Burden: APC Suspends Women Leader For Criticising Kaduna Gov

      March 31, 2024
    • SPORTS

      THROWBACK: How I Became Known As Dodo Mayana – Peter Rufai

      July 6, 2025

      Zubimendi Joined Gunners For £60m – How Arsenal Signed Arteta’s ‘Obsession’

      July 6, 2025

      Best Of African Women’s Football On Display As WAFCON Kicks Off

      July 6, 2025

      Mbappe Scores As Real Madrid Beat Dortmund To Set-Up PSG Semi-Final

      July 6, 2025

      Super Eagles’ Captain, Ahmed Musa Named General Manager Of Kano Pillars

      July 5, 2025
    • MORE
      • AFRICA
      • ANALYSIS
      • BUSINESS
      • ENTERTAINMENT
      • FEATURED
      • LENS SPEAK
      • INFO – TECH
      • INTERVIEW
      • NIGERIA DECIDES
      • OPINION
      • Personality Profile
      • Picture of the month
      • Science
      • Special Project
      • Videos
      • Weekend Sports
    NEWS POINT NIGERIANEWS POINT NIGERIA
    UBA 720X90
    Home - Inside the Oval Office, Trump’s new Lair – By Azu Ishiekwene

    Inside the Oval Office, Trump’s new Lair – By Azu Ishiekwene

    By Azubuike IshiekweneMay 30, 2025
    Azu

    THE world has never been short of demagogues and fools, but the remedies have often matched the supply. In 1990, during President Nelson Mandela’s thank-you tour of the world, he was asked at the City College of New York, Harlem, NY., why he remained friends with Muammar Gaddafi, Yasser Arafat, and Fidel Castro.

    He replied that he didn’t think it was the business of any country to choose South Africa’s friends. These people stood by South Africa in its hour of need; why should he betray them now? His interlocutor turned tail, and Mandela received a standing ovation.

    British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher preached “constructive engagement” to dismantle apartheid. In response to her duplicity in 2004, the President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, pointed out to her that “constructive engagement” favoured England, particularly the Prime Minister, whose son, Mark, was involved in gunrunning and coup plots on the continent. Thatcher had no response.

    UBA

    Castro V. Bush
    Castro accused President George Bush of a “pirate mentality.” And he wasn’t being flippant. One of Africa’s worst kleptocrats, Joseph Desire Mobutu, worth $5 billion in the 1980s, visited President Bush in 1989.

    Despite Mobutu’s appalling record, Martin Meredith in The Fate of Africa, quoted Bush as saying on the South Lawn of the White House, “Zaire is among America’s oldest friends, and its president – President Mobutu – one of our most valued friends. We are proud and very, very pleased to have him with us today.”

    WIDGET ADS

    Like Castro, President Olusegun Obasanjo is also reputed not to suffer fools gladly. Stephen Sackur, anchor of the BBC programme HARDtalk, might recall when, in response to what Obasanjo perceived as a rude question, the former Nigerian president asked Sackur if he could pose that question to his prime minister.

    In The Lion’s Den
    There is a long list of leaders who confronted bullies without flinching. This quality, which is in demand more than ever before, is falling short, as shown by recent high-profile encounters in the White House since President Donald Trump’s second term. The White House, especially the Oval Office, has become for high-profile visitors what the lion’s den is to straying goats.

    Thomas Sankara African Leadership Prize

    After Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s antagonistic exchange with Trump, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is the latest target. Almost from the moment the first live footage of the visit began airing, it was clear that Trump wanted only one thing.

    He wasn’t interested in resetting trade talks or bilateral issues. He wasn’t interested in repairing ties between South Africa and the US or hearing firsthand the other view about the so-called genocide against white farmers. He wasn’t interested in conciliation. He was interested in only one thing: having Ramaphosa for lunch. And he did, which was painful and difficult to watch.

    Nigerian TAX Reform - Federal Goverment

    ‘How Did You Get My Number?’
    From Trump’s question about “how did you get my number?”, gestures that suggested he valued the presence of the golfers in Ramaphosa’s entourage – Ernie Els and Retief Goosen – more than the president, to dumping piles of fake documents on the South African president and converting the Oval Office into a cinema while Ramaphosa was still speaking, Trump displayed utter contempt and disregard for his visitors.

    The encounter made Zelenskyy’s visit appear like a lovefest. Some have argued that it reflects more poorly on Trump and the US that the host treated his guest so shabbily, raking him over the coals with fake and discredited materials, than on Ramaphosa, who kept his smile and rational stance. That is partially correct, but more than anyone else, Ramaphosa has himself to blame for the shambolic treatment.

    Yellow Flags
    There were more than enough yellow flags beforehand. From the Executive Order in February, stopping all US financial assistance to South Africa, to the accusations of “white genocide”, to the expulsion of Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool, and the offer of “refugee” status to white farmers, Trump, mainly instigated by Elon Musk, has never disguised his misguided displeasure against South Africa.

    National Orientation Agency Page UP
    National Orientation Agency - Down

    The country’s decision to drag Israel to the ICJ over the war in Gaza and its leadership role in BRICS (which could potentially curtail the influence of the dollar), of course, were also unspoken sources of Trump’s anger.

    If a war foretold does not take the disabled person by surprise, how could Ramaphosa have ignored these yellow flags and decided to visit the lair with a golfing picture book as a peace offering, instead of a luxury Boeing 747 jetliner, the perfect sacrifice?

    Success. What Success?
    The South African president has described the visit as “a great success.” Perhaps that would be correct if he were describing his narrow escape. There is no readout or evidence of the “reset” Ramaphosa requested. As of today, the fake video of the crosses on the roadside, supposed to be memorials for about 1,000 murdered white South African farmers, is still playing on the X handle of the White House. Nothing has changed.

    If Ramaphosa believes the visit was a success, his opinion has divided his country as much as it has a largely subdued continent. Femi Badejo, a diplomat and professor of Political Science, used the metaphor of a safari to describe the response across the continent. “If a lion grabs an antelope,” he asked me, “what do you think will happen to the rest of the herd?”

    South Africa is not just another African antelope; it’s a leader in the pack. Although many African diplomats are publicly spinning Ramaphosa’s visit as measured and dignified, behind the scenes, they are scandalised at the possible fate that awaits them – and the continent – especially with the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) expiring in September.

    Who’s Next?
    For many reasons, primarily economic, the Africa that once stood up to bullies or was even deemed worthy allies has become a thing of the past. The Egyptian leader, Field Marshal Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, may receive red-carpet treatment at the White House due to that country’s strategic importance to the US, just as Burkina Faso’s Captain Ibrahim Traore, Russia’s poster boy, may get flowers in the Kremlin. The others, grappling with internal security challenges, discontent and fragile economies, are on their own as they struggle to navigate a hostile and deeply divided world.

    It would be a long time before another leader from the continent visits the White House, that is, if Trump has not closed half of the US embassies in Africa before he marks his first year in office. If, at this time, African leaders cannot find good company among themselves, they may as well learn to sit at home.

    • Ishiekwene is the Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP and author of the book Writing for Media and Monetising It.

    Azu Ishiekwene's Column Oval Office Trump
    Share. Facebook Twitter WhatsApp LinkedIn Telegram Email

    Related Posts

    There Is Pain Behind That Smile. Just Do Your Bit – By Dr Hassan Gimba

    July 6, 2025

    What Can Nigeria Learn From China’s Electricity Revolution? – By Dr Dakuku Peterside

    July 6, 2025

    Amaechi: Nigerian Politicians And Doublespeak – By Kazeem Akintunde

    July 6, 2025

    Remembering ‘Watergate Scandal’ And Danger Of Crippling Opposition – By Martins Oloja

    July 6, 2025
    Add A Comment
    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    Latest Posts

    Tensions Mount In ADC As State Chairmen Reject Coalition Takeover Led by David Mark

    July 7, 2025

    Recapitalisation: Jaiz, Zenith, Three Other Banks Hit CBN Target Ahead Of Deadline

    July 7, 2025

    NNPC Slashes Petrol Price To N910 Per Litre In Abuja, Other States

    July 7, 2025

    NiMet Predicts Three-Day Rain, Thunderstorms Nationwide From Monday

    July 7, 2025

    Again Boko Haram Kills Nine In Borno, Governor Zulum Mourns

    July 6, 2025
    Advertisement
    WIDGET ADS
    News Point NG
    © 2025 NEWS POINT NIGERIA Developed by ENGRMKS & CO.
    • Home
    • About us
    • Disclaimer
    • Our Advert Rates
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

    Join Us On WhatsApp