African leaders can offer Donald Trump a face-saving way out of his current debacle

Ayo Akinfe

(1) It is inevitable that Donald Trump is facing a humiliating scenario whereby after all his bluster, he is going to have to concede that he lost the recent US presidential elections. I am sure his biggest problem now is how to do it without losing face

(2) This is where Africa needs to step in. Being the African giant and the world’s largest black nation, Nigeria again is obliged to take centre stage with an unprecedented foreign policy coup

(3) How about President Muhammadu Buhari and President Cyril Ramaphosa call an emergency African Union summit in either Pretoria or Abuja to address the matter

(4) At that meeting, they should affirm their commitment to the principle of accepting the results of free and fair elections and thus declare that they recognise Joe Biden as the US president-elect

(5) They should then put together a mini delegation of about six presidents who will fly to Washington DC to meet with President Donald Trump

(6) This will offer President Trump a way out as after their meeting, he will hold a joint press conference with the African leaders to say he is accepting the Biden victory because his colleagues have impressed on him the need to do so in the interest of global peace and prosperity

(7) President Trump just has to say that the African presidents pointed out to him that if he refuses to concede defeat it will spell doom for their continent. He just has to point out that someone like President Buhari made it clear that if the US does this, no African president who loses elections in the future will concede defeat and leave office

(8) To press home his point, President Trump can say that African leaders used the recent example of Gambia where President Yahaya Jammeh lost elections but refused to accept defeat. It took a delegation of African leaders to get him to leave and President Trump can say he does not want to encourage they kind of behaviour so has listened to his African colleagues

(9) President Trump can then also point to how African economic growth is at a standstill because US investors are waiting for the issue of the White House to be resolved before they invest abroad. He can say that in the wake of the fragile Covid-19 economic recovery, he does not want to subject Africa to more misery

(10) In return for this, the African presidents should demand up to $10bn worth of US foreign direct investment (FDI) on their continent this year. They should also ask President-elect Biden to set annual US FDI targets for US companies that invest in Africa. Those who meet it will get US tax cuts and exemptions