Significance of John Kerry's Visit to
Sokoto

Sokoto - Early this week, US Secretary of State,
John Kerry was in Nigeria and
met with President Muhammadu Buhari and the
Sultan of Sokoto, Abubakar Sa'ad III. The visit was
Kerry's third to Nigeria in the past 20
months.

The first time Kerry was in Nigeria as Secretary of
State, he was in
Lagos, which is in the South and the commercial
capital of Nigeria
obviously to strengthen economic relations
between US and Nigeria. The
second time, Kerry flew straight to Abuja, which is
in the centre and
the political capital of Nigeria, to meet with Buhari
as President Barack Obama's envoy. But the third
time Kerry visited Nigeria in his official capacity,
he headed first to Sokoto, which is in the North.

In Sokoto, Kerry paid a courtesy call to the Sultan
who is the most
powerful Muslim in the country and the supreme
leader of Nigeria's
Muslim community. This visit shows a desire of
the United States of America to directly interface
and work with the
Muslim community.

Analysing Kerry's speech in Sokoto, it can be
clearly seen his message was targeted at
Nigerians in general telling us what we have been
doing well and what needed to be improved upon.
Nothing he said came as a surprise or was of great
an importance as to
make it necessary for him to be physically present
In Sokoto.

However, Kerry was in Sokoto with the approval of
Obama who is
renowned for his liberal leanings towards Muslims
globally, which
lends support to the idea Kerry's visit to Sultan
Sa'ad III was in
accordance with the desire of United State of
America to hobnob with
the Muslim community in Nigeria.

Source: www.nigerianinterest..nl/2016/08/significance-of-john-kerrys-visit-to.html?m=1