I were Tinubu, I’d avoid antagonising Trump – Prof Akinyemi

Foremost political scientist and former Minister of External Affairs, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi has advised President Bola Tinubu to tread cautiously in dealings with the newly inaugurated 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday, Akinyemi warned against antagonising Trump, describing the US president as a “bully.”

“If I were President Tinubu, I would try to steer clear of antagonising him because there is nothing a bully likes better than taking on people who are not strong enough to resist him,” Akinyemi said.

He invoked an African proverb to emphasise his point: “You know there is that African proverb that if you are not strong enough to take on a bully and you take him on, you are just even going to suffer more for it. That’s the advice I will give President Tinubu: try and avoid having a confrontation with him even if that means that he does things that annoy or does things that step on the interests of Nigeria. There are ways in which you could address his reaction without confrontation.”

Akinyemi, a former Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), also criticised Trump’s inaugural address, labeling it “shocking and depressing.”