President Bola Tinubu has built close relations with French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in recent years (AC Vol 65 No 25 Macron tilts to Anglophone Africa after Sahelian exits)...

The choice of Kenya to host the France-Africa summit on 11-12 May a first for an Anglophone state suits the policy aims of both President Emmanuel Macron and President William Samoei Ruto...

With an agreement to restructure a restored IMF programme would inject fresh funds for public services and help mobilise backing from western countries particularly France where President Emmanuel Macron remains supportive...

But that meeting was nothing compared to the opulent welcome the Nigerian leader received three months later when France's President Emmanuel Macron organised a grand reception including a military parade at Les Invalides to strengthen economic and security ties with Nigeria (AC Vol 65 No 25 Macron tilts to Anglophone Africa after Sahelian exits)...

President Emmanuel Macron sees Nigeria as a new West African security anchor after French forces were expelled from Mali Burkina Faso and Niger...

His political meetings – with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky French President Emmanuel Macron and others – all took place at UN headquarters...

France and the European Union are silent: democracy is an obsolete value in the new Trumpian world and in the context of the new Africa policy of President Emmanuel Macron...

But such rivalry has been forgotten by most of Nigeria's elite: Nigeria is France's biggest trading partner in Africa and Tinubu rarely misses a meeting President Emmanuel Macron on his many éscales in Paris...

French questionAbuja is acutely aware of the Sahelian distrust stirred by Tinubu's warm ties with France's President Emmanuel Macron...