Bill Clinton cancels trip to Nigeria ahead of elections

Seems the Nigerians do not want any outside influence or interferance in their elections

Former US President Bill Clinton has canceled his trip to Nigeria ahead of Saturday's general elections, saying the visit could be "politicized."

Clinton was scheduled to visit the capital, Abuja, this week alongside Baroness Patricia Scotland, the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth.

he planned trip was facilitated by the Kofi Annan Foundation and the National Peace Committee (NPC).

"Over the course of the last several days, and after various conversations with the different stakeholders, it's become apparent that President Clinton's visit to Nigeria has the potential to be politicized in a way that is not in line with the goals of the Committee. Therefore, he will not be traveling to Abuja," Clinton's spokesman Angel Ureña said in a statement.

Clinton, according to the statement, would continue to support the NPC 's work toward peaceful and fair elections in Nigeria.

He had been set to deliver a keynote speech at a ceremony for the signing of a peace accord by presidential candidates.

Clinton will speak later this week with President Muhammadu Buhari, who is standing for re-election, and his main challenger, Atiku Abubakar, his spokesman said.

It is expected to be a keenly contested election.

Two electoral commission offices housing voting materials were burned down within a week, the country's electoral body said Sunday.

"This is a crucial time in Nigeria, and President Clinton is hopeful that the election's outcome reflects the will of the Nigerian people," his spokesman said.

The NPC in an earlier statement announcing Clinton's visit said it reached out to him and others to ensure peaceful elections and a non-violent transfer of power in the West African nation.

More than 200 people were killed and about 40,000 displaced in violence after Nigeria's 2011 presidential elections, when then-incumbent Goodluck Jonathan defeated Buhari at the polls.

Sauce: https://www.wsls.com/news/politics/bill-clinton-cancels-trip-to-nigeria-ahead-of-elections

And why did he cancel?

Seems they don`t want the Clintons influencing or interfering…

"Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai, a key ally of President Buhari, during the week, threatened that any external actors who try to intervene in the elections and in the internal affairs of the country would return home in a body bags.

“We are waiting for the person who will come and intervene. They will go back in body bags because nobody will come to Nigeria and tell us how to run our country,” said El-Rufai.

“We have got that independence and we are trying to run our country as decently as possible,” he said."

https://guardian.ng/news/why-former-us-president-bill-clinton-is-visiting-buhari-atiku/

>>5137768

Clinton Foundation has operations in Nigeria

So naturally there is corruption…

And in Nigerias case, it is tied into this guy….

He was a billionaire who donated to the Clinton Foundation. Last year, he was denied entry into the U.S.

Nigerian billionaire Gilbert Chagoury, one of Africa's richest men, has built a reputation as a giant of global philanthropy.

His name is on a gallery at the Louvre and a medical school in Lebanon, and he has received awards for his generosity to the Catholic Church and St. Jude's Children's Hospital. He owns a seven-bedroom hilltop mansion in Beverly Hills, and he has a high-level network of friends from Washington to Lebanon to the Vatican, where he serves as an ambassador for the tiny island nation of St. Lucia. His website shows him shaking hands and laughing with Pope Francis.

"I never imagined what the future would hold for me," Chagoury once said of his boyhood in Nigeria. "But I knew there was a vision for my life that was greater than I could imagine.… I consider it a duty to give back."

Since the 1990s, Chagoury has also cultivated a friendship with the Clinton family — in part by writing large checks, including a contribution of at least $1 million to the Clinton Foundation.

By the time Hillary Clinton became secretary of State, the relationship was strong enough for Bill Clinton's closest aide to push for Chagoury to get access to top diplomats, and the agency began exploring a deal, still under consideration, to build a consulate on Chagoury family land in Lagos, Nigeria.

But even as those talks were underway, bureaucrats in other arms of the State Department were examining accusations that Chagoury had unsavory affiliations, stemming from his activities and friendships in Lebanon. After a review, Chagoury was refused a visa to enter the U.S. last year.

Chagoury is a prominent example of the nexus between Hillary Clinton's State Department and the family's Clinton Foundation, which has come under renewed scrutiny during her presidential run. The organization, founded as a way for the Clintons to tap their vast network for charitable works, has tackled some of the steepest challenges in the developing world, including rebuilding Haiti and fighting AIDS in Africa. It has also come under fire for its willingness to accept money from foreign governments with interest in swaying U.S. policy during Clinton's time as secretary of State, and the controversial histories of some donors.

Part of a dictator's inner circle

Chagoury was born in 1946 in Lagos to Lebanese parents, and as a child attended school in Lebanon. He sold shoes and cars in Nigeria, according to a biography on his website, before marrying the daughter of a prominent Nigerian businessman.

During the rule of Gen. Sani Abacha, who seized power in Nigeria in 1993, Chagoury prospered, receiving development deals and oil franchises.

Rest here.. Worth a dig: https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-clinton-donor-chagoury-20160828-snap-story.html