President Bola Tinubu yesterday played a deft soft-power card, leveraging First Lady Oluremi Tinubu’s faith profile at a sensitive moment in bilateral relations between both nations to reopen warmth with the Donald Trump-led administration.
Oluremi’s appearance at the 2026 annual US National Prayer Breakfast came against the backdrop of a recent diplomatic spat that appeared to have cooled engagement between Abuja and Washington, THISDAY recalls.
However, the calculation seemed to have paid off publicly when Trump singled out Mrs Tinubu in the congregation, acknowledging her presence and offering unusually warm remarks, signalling renewed receptiveness after months of aggressive rhetoric against Nigeria and sent a clear message that Nigeria was, perhaps, back in positive view.
Specifically, the US President, Trump, specially acknowledged the presence of Nigeria’s First Lady, Oluremi, at the 74th edition of the programme, describing her as a respected figure and noting her role as a Christian pastor in the ‘largest church’ in Nigeria.
But like everything Trump, there is a risk. How sustainable is this new found receptiveness? Trump is mercurial and can easily change his mind.
Trump also stated that US forces, in collaboration with their Nigerian counterparts are conducting operations in Nigeria to protect Christians from being slaughtered, reiterating the significance of the Christmas day air strikes on terrorists in Africa’s most populous nation.
“But we’re honoured to be joined today by the First Lady of Nigeria, who also happens to serve as a Christian pastor at the largest church in Nigeria. A very respected woman. First Lady, please, where are you? Thank you very much. It’s a great honour. Thank you very much. Very respected person, too,” Trump stated.
Besides, the US President stated that he had been working tirelessly to end dangerous conflicts in Nigeria and other countries and help move past what he described as ‘ancient hatreds’ against the Christian faith.
“We are hitting very hard (in Nigeria). My administration is confronting head-on the militants and really intolerant campaign that tried to drive religious believers out of public life and out of society. I mean, now religious leaders are respected as much or more as any leader of any type anywhere in the world. Religious leaders are respected again, and that’s the way we have to have it.
“They really are respected again. They were having a hard time. They were having a very hard time. The last four years previous to the one that we served, the last four years were brutal on religious leaders. They were brave. Some were very brave. Some couldn’t take it, and a lot of people understand that. Some were brave, really brave,” he added.
Trump boasted that no administration in modern history has done more to confront what he termed the plight of persecuted Christians around the world than his, describing it as a mission.
“On Christmas Day, in close coordination with the government of Nigeria, we worked with them, but they have got to get tougher. I ordered powerful airstrikes to decimate the ISIS terrorists who have been slaughtering Christians in that country by the thousands. It’s not even believable. We hit them so hard, they still don’t know what the h*ll happened.
“And we were going to do it on a different day. I said, no, do it on Christmas, so they understand it. When I ran in 2015, I announced that we were going to bring back Christmas because the word Christmas was almost gone, and people weren’t using Christmas anymore
We brought back the word Christmas. They didn’t want to use it, and we’re using it again. But I specifically told Pete (US Secretary of War), I said, hit them on Christmas Day. Not earlier and not later. Right, Pete? And man, did he hit them. So then we hit them again recently. We hit them again pretty hard.”
Although the Bible says that “Blessed Are the Peacemakers,” Trump maintained that this can only be achieved through the exertion of strength, pointing out that he had ended at least eight wars in one year.
Established in 1953, the National Prayer Breakfast is an annual event that brings together political leaders, faith leaders, and dignitaries from across the world for prayers and reflection in the US.
In the last few months, both countries have formally moved past earlier tensions linked to security and governance concerns. Following sustained high-level dialogue, Nigeria has made sustained diplomatic moves to resolve the misunderstanding between both countries and put them on a more stable footing.
In recent times, security cooperation has deepened, with the US reiterating its support for Nigeria’s counterterrorism and regional stability efforts, amid expanded intelligence sharing, advisory support, and more responsive engagement on Nigeria’s security requests. This has been further enhanced with the setting up of a bilateral committee to thrash out outstanding issues.
At the political level, regular exchanges between senior Nigerian officials, US diplomats, and legislators have resumed, with a focus on democratic governance, economic cooperation, and Nigeria’s regional leadership.
