Why Gen Buhari Will No Longer Travel To The US

Latest reports say the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, will no longer travel to the US on Monday.According to a Premium Times report, Buhari’s trip to the US was cancelled because the United States-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), which invited the former head of state to its programme scheduled for Monday, has cancelled the event.CSIS’s director of the Africa programme, Jennifer Cooke, made the disclosure in an email she sent to the online news portal on Friday.She, however, explained that the cancellation of the trip was because of a change in Buhari’s schedule.In response to an earlier enquiry, the organisation had said the APC presidential candidate was invited to its Washington headquarters “to give a major public address on Nigeria’s future as it stands on the edge of a pivotal national election.”Cooke, in her response to this newspaper’s enquiry on Friday, said: “First, I want to make you aware that, because of a change in his schedule, Gen Buhari will not be travelling to the United States, and the event on Monday has been cancelled.”She explained that the leading presidential candidates were invited to enable them to share their perspectives on the elections.“The CSIS Africa Program issued almost identical invitations to both leading political candidates (President Jonathan and Gen. Buhari) to share their perspectives on Nigeria’s forthcoming elections and Nigeria’s future more broadly,” Cooke said.“There is considerable interest among U.S. policymakers and the Nigerian Diaspora community in the February 14 elections, and an interest in hearing from both candidates first hand their thoughts on how best to ensure that the elections will be free, fair, credible, and peaceful.“The Africa Program has no position on which candidate should or will be successful.”She said over the year, the programme had provided a neutral ground to profile the views of different relevant institutions and political parties.According to her, “Over the course of the last year, through the CSIS Nigeria Election Forum, the CSIS Africa Program has provided a neutral venue to profile a range of views from Nigerian civil society organizations, political leadership of both parties, and government officials.“The series has aimed to convey to a U.S. policy audience what is at stake in the forthcoming elections and support efforts to ensure that the electoral process is free, fair, credible, and peaceful.”It will be recalled that Buhari and President Goodluck Jonathan, both front runners in the February 14 presidential election, were invited by the organisation to speak on Nigeria’s future.However, some reports had surfaced that Buhari, who had planned to make the trip to the US on Saturday, ahead of the event scheduled for January 26, was travelling to the US on medical grounds.