The then US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson has been sacked few hours after he visited Nigeria
The federal government has said that the sack of Rex Tillerson by President Donald Trump of US from his position as secretary of state will not affect Nigeria’s relationship with US. Tillerson visited Nigeria and met with President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday, March 12, before he was relieved of his position by President Trump.
Vanguard reports that Geoffrey Onyeama who is the minister of foreign affairs spoke at the end of the federal executive council meeting on Wednesday, March 14, presided over by Professor Yemi Osinbajo.
Onyeama said Tillerson was only representing the US in Nigeria and that his removal would not stop whatever agreement was in place.
He said:
“Rex Tillerson sack won’t affect (Nigeria) because government is a continuum as we all know.
“When he came it was the United States that was speaking and clearly we expect that with every expectation that everything he has said as regards US/Nigeria relations reflects the position of the United States, reflects the position of the president of the United States, so we don’t see any change happening.”
Ibe Kachikwu who is the minister of state for petroleum who also spoke after the meeting said modular refineries would help curb illegal refining in the Niger Delta region.
According to him, modular refineries wasn’t supposed to provide a sufficient solution to the petroleum needs of Nigeria.
It was gathered from the report that calling Trump a “moron” last year coupled with the broader personality clash the utterance represented was the reason why Tillerson was fired.