The President of the United States, Donald Trump, according to a Financial Times report, described Nigerian President,Muhammadu Buhari as ‘so lifeless’ after their April meeting at the White House in Washington. 

The Financial Times article titled ‘Africa Looks For Something New Out Of Trump’, was published some hours ago as a preview to Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta’s visit to the White House.

Buhari met Trump on April 30 in Washington after being invited. There, the two leaders discussed issues including the fight against terrorism and economic growth, making him the first sub-Saharan African leader to visit Trump at the White House.

In the article, the Financial Times reported that the April meeting ended with Trump warning his aides that he never wanted to meet someone so lifeless again. The report claimed:

“The first meeting, with Nigeria’s ailing 75-year-old Muhammadu Buhari in April, ended with the US president telling aides he never wanted to meet someone so lifeless again, according to three people familiar with the matter.”

Trump will welcome Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta to the White House on Monday in what would be only the second one-on-one meeting the US president has held with an African leader since assuming office.

The newspaper added that advocates of closer US-Africa ties hope his encounter with the younger 56-year-old Kenyatta will breathe fresh life into a relationship with a region that Washington is seen to have neglected.

However, during the April Summit, Trump had praised Buhari during the joint-press conference held after the meeting.

“Nigeria has a reputation for massive corruption. I also know that the President (Buhari) has been able to cut that down very substantially.

“We talked about that, he is working on it and they have made a lot of progress and I think they will continue to make a lot of progress,” Trump had said at the televised press conference.