By Arthur
Agwuncha Nwankwo
The conduct of international relations among
nations is anchored on the realist paradigm of “might is right”. This is the
central thesis of Hans J. Morgenthau's seminal work on Politics among Nations. The motivating factor in
relations among nations is the furtherance of their vital and strategic
national interests. In these murky waters of international politics, the
powerful states relate to other states on the basis of what they consider to be
in the best interest of their states. It is in this context that I want to do a
brief post-mortem of president Buhari’s recent tour of the United States of America .
*Dr. Nwankwo |
Not a few Nigerians believed that so much would
come out of that visit. I am certain by now the reality of the failure of that
visit would have disrupted such expectations. Buhari’s visit to the USA was programmed to stimulate a stiff in US policy towards Nigeria . On the cards for
discussion was the issue of Boko Haram insurgency. While Buhari lacked words
and technical depth to explain the implication of the insurgency to the
strategic interest of the USA
in Nigeria , a bemused Obama
promised that USA and her
allies would consider areas of cooperation with Nigeria especially in combating
international terror. Back home, many Nigerians went to town with their cymbals
announcing that Buhari’s visit would yield much result. Today, we have come to
terms with the reality that Buhari went on excursion to the USA , used the opportunity to visit
the White House – a pleasure he did not enjoy as a military dictator.