U.S. President Donald Trump has praised Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, describing her as a “very respected woman” during the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C on Thursday.
Trump made the remarks while addressing participants at the faith-based gathering, which was attended by political and civic leaders from across the world.
His comments highlighted Mrs Tinubu’s influence and stature, drawing applause from the audience.
In his address, Trump recognised the Nigerian First Lady’s role as a pastor in one of Nigeria’s largest churches and referenced her pastoral background.
“We are honoured to be joined today by the First Lady of Nigeria, who also happens to serve as a Christian pastor at the largest church in Nigeria — a very respected woman. Thank you very much, it’s a great honour, a very respected person too,” Trump said.
The acknowledgement placed the Nigerian First Lady among prominent global faith leaders present at the event, which brings together political figures, clergy, and policymakers for prayers and reflections on leadership, governance, and national values.
Activists announced at a briefing in South Africa plans to launch the largest civilian-led flotilla to Gaza in March, with more than 100 boats and over 1,000 participants, including doctors and aid workers. Organisers urge Israel not to intercept the mission.
The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has insisted that the country’s security partnership with the United States primarily focuses on capacity building, professional military education, intelligence sharing, logistics support, and strategic dialogue aimed at addressing shared security concerns, including terrorism.
The DHQ made the clarification following the report that U.S. troops had been deployed to Nigeria.
In a statement signed by the Director of Defence Information, Major General Samaila Uba, the DHQ emphasized that all engagements with the United States are conducted with full respect for Nigeria’s sovereignty and existing bilateral frameworks.
General Uba reassured Nigerians that the Armed Forces of Nigeria remain committed to protecting the nation’s territorial integrity, while collaborating with credible partners in ways that strengthen the country’s security.
READ ALSO: American Military Team Deployed To Nigeria, US General Says
The statement further stressed that Nigeria’s defence partnerships are transparent, policy-driven, and aligned with constitutional provisions, ensuring that international cooperation enhances the nation’s security architecture without compromising national independence.
A top US general recently said the United States has deployed a small military team to Nigeria.
Speaking after the United States launched strikes targeting militants in Nigeria on December 25, General Dagvin Anderson, head of the US Africa Command (Africom), said the two countries had decided to “increase collaboration”.
“We agreed that we needed to work together on the way forward in the region,” Anderson told a virtual news conference on Tuesday.
“That has led to increased collaboration between our nations to include a small US team that brings some unique capabilities from the United States in order to augment what Nigeria has been doing for several years.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has faced questions from the United States Senate about President Donald Trump’s ongoing campaign to slash interest rates, despite concerns that such a move could turbo-charge inflation.
Bessent appeared on Thursday before the Senate’s Financial Stability Oversight Council.
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There, he received a grilling from Democrats over rising consumer prices and concerns about Trump’s attempts to influence the Federal Reserve, the US central bank.
One of his early clashes came with Senator Elizabeth Warren, who sought answers about a report in The Wall Street Journal that indicated Trump joked about suing his nominee for the Federal Reserve chair, Kevin Warsh, if he failed to comply with presidential demands.
“Mr Secretary, can you commit right here and now that Trump’s Fed nominee Kevin Warsh will not be sued, will not be investigated by the Department of Justice, if he doesn’t cut interest rates exactly the way that Donald Trump wants?” Warren asked.
Bessent evaded making such a commitment. “That is up to the president,” he replied.
Senators Tim Scott and Elizabeth Warren speak during a hearing on the Financial Stability Oversight Council’s annual report to Congress [Jonathan Ernst/Reuters]
Pressure on Federal Reserve members
Last week, Trump announced Warsh would be his pick to replace the current Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, who has faced bitter criticism over his decision to lower interest rates gradually.
By contrast, Trump has repeatedly demanded that interest rates be chopped as low as possible, as soon as possible.
In December, for instance, he told The Wall Street Journal that he would like to see interest rates at “one percent and maybe lower than that”.
“We should have the lowest rate in the world,” he told the newspaper. Currently, the federal interest rate sits around 3.6 percent.
Experts say a sudden drop in that percentage could trigger a short-term market surge, as loans become cheaper and money floods the economy. But that excess cash could drive down the value of the dollar, leading to higher prices in the long term.
Traditionally, the Federal Reserve has served as an independent government agency, on the premise that monetary decisions for the country should be made without political interference or favour.
But Trump, a Republican, has sought to bring the Federal Reserve under his control, and his critics have accused him of using the threat of legal action to pressure Federal Reserve members to comply with his demands.
In August, for instance, he attempted to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook based on allegations of mortgage fraud, which she has denied.
Cook had been appointed to the central bank by Trump’s predecessor and rival, Democrat Joe Biden, and she has accused Trump of seeking her dismissal on political grounds. The Supreme Court is currently hearing the case.
Then, in early January, the Department of Justice opened a criminal investigation into Powell, echoing accusations Trump made, alleging that Powell had mismanaged renovations to the Federal Reserve building.
Powell issued a rare statement in response, accusing Trump of seeking to bully Federal Reserve leaders into compliance with his interest rate policy.
“The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President,” Powell wrote.
Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican who is not seeking reelection, has been critical of the probe of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell [Jonathan Ernst/Reuters]
Bipartisan scrutiny of Powell probe
Given the string of aggressive actions against Powell and Cook, Trump’s joke about suing Warsh fuelled rumours that the Federal Reserve’s independence could be in peril.
Within hours of making the joke on January 31, Trump himself faced questions about how serious he might have been.
“It’s a roast. It’s a comedy thing,” Trump said of his remarks as he spoke to reporters on Air Force One. “It was all comedy.”
Warren, however, pressed Bessent about Trump’s remarks and chided the Treasury chief for not rejecting them.
“I don’t think the American people are laughing,” Warren told Bessent. “They’re the ones who were struggling with the affordability.”
The prospect of Trump exerting undue influence over the Federal Reserve even earned a measure of bipartisan criticism during Thursday’s council meeting.
Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, opened his remarks to Bessent with a statement denouncing the probe into Powell, even though he acknowledged he was “disappointed” with the current Fed chair.
Still, Tillis emphasised his belief that Powell committed no crime, and that the investigation would discourage transparency at future Senate hearings.
He imagined future government hearings becoming impeded by legal formalities, for fear of undue prosecution.
“They’re going to be flanked with attorneys, and anytime that they think that they’re in the middle of a perjury trap, they’re probably just going to say, ‘I’ll submit it to the record after consultation with my attorneys,’” Tillis said, sketching out the scenario.
“Is that really the way we want oversight to go in the future?”
For his part, Bessent indicated that he backed the Federal Reserve’s long-term goal to keep interest rates at about 2 percent.
“It is undesirable to completely eliminate inflation,” Bessent said. “What is desirable is to get back to the Fed’s 2 percent target, and for the past three months, we’ve been at 2.1 percent.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent attends a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on the Financial Stability Oversight Council on February 5 [Jonathan Ernst/Reuters]
Scrutinising the lawsuit against the IRS
As Thursday’s hearing continued, Bessent was forced to defend the Trump administration on several fronts, ranging from its sweeping tariff policy to its struggle to lower consumer prices.
But another element of Trump’s agenda took centre stage when Democrat Ruben Gallego of Arizona had his turn at the microphone.
Gallego sought to shine a light on the revelation in January that Trump had filed a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) — part of his own executive branch.
Trump is seeking $10bn in damages for the leak of his tax returns during his first term as president. The IRS itself was not the source of the leak, but rather a former government contractor named Charles Littlejohn, who was sentenced to five years in prison.
Bessent was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, though he currently serves both as the Treasury secretary and the acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service.
Critics have argued that Trump’s lawsuit amounts to self-dealing: He holds significant sway over the Justice Department, which would defend the federal government against such lawsuits, and he could therefore green-light his own settlement package.
In Thursday’s exchange with Gallego, Bessent acknowledged that any damages paid to Trump would come from taxpayer funds.
“ Where would that $10bn come from?” Gallego asked.
“ It would come from Treasury,” Bessent replied. He then underscored that Trump has indicated any money would go to charity and that the Treasury itself would not make the decision to award damages.
Still, Gallego pressed Bessent, pointing out that the Treasury would ultimately have to disburse the funds — and that Bessent would be in charge of that decision.
That circumstance, Gallego argued, creates a conflict of interest, since Bessent is Trump’s political appointee and can be fired by the president.
“Have you recused yourself from any decisions about paying the president on these claims?” Gallego asked.
Sri Lanka have written to the Pakistan Cricket Board asking them to reverse their refusal to face India in their T20 World Cup group.
The fixture, the biggest and most lucrative in the global game, is due to be played in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo on 15 February but Pakistan’s government has said the team will not play the Group A game.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Thursday the decision was made to “support” Bangladesh, whose request for their games to be switched from India was rejected by the International Cricket Council.
Bangladesh asked for their games to be moved citing safety concerns amid growing political tensions with India but the ICC said there was an “absence of any credible security threat”.
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Last year India refused to travel to Pakistan to play in the Champions Trophy and had their matches moved to the United Arab Emirates.
Following that episode it was agreed all India and Pakistan matches would be played at neutral venues whenever one of them hosts an ICC event going forward.
That meant Sri Lanka was given the right to host this month’s meeting but the likelihood of it doing so has decreased.
The ICC has asked for Pakistan to explore a “mutually acceptable resolution” but no agreements have been made so far.
The demand for tickets far outweighed supply for the fixture.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has warned of the threat of a military escalation in the Middle East before talks between Iran and the United States in Oman on Friday.
Speaking in Doha on Thursday, Merz said that fears of a new conflict had characterised his talks during his trip to the Gulf region.
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“In all my conversations yesterday and today, great concern has been expressed about a further escalation in the conflict with Iran,” he said during a news conference.
Merz also urged Iran to end what he called aggression and enter into talks, saying Germany would do everything it could to de-escalate the situation and work towards regional stability.
The warning came in the run-up to a crucial scheduled meeting between officials from Tehran and Washington in Muscat.
Mediators from Qatar, Turkiye and Egypt have presented Iran and the US with a framework of key principles to be discussed in the talks, including a commitment by Iran to significantly limit its uranium enrichment, two sources familiar with the negotiations have told Al Jazeera.
Before the talks, both sides appear to be struggling to find common ground on a number of issues, including what topics will be up for discussion.
Iran says the talks must be confined to its long-running nuclear dispute with Western powers, rejecting a US demand to also discuss Tehran’s ballistic missiles, and warning that pushing issues beyond the nuclear programme could jeopardise the talks.
Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett said the US is eager for the talks to follow what they see as an agreed-upon format.
“That agreed-upon format includes issues broader than what the US understands Iran is willing to discuss in this initial set of talks,” she explained.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that talks would have to include the range of Iran’s ballistic missiles, its support for armed groups around the Middle East and its treatment of its own people, in addition to its nuclear programme.
A White House official has told Al Jazeera that Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and a key figure in his Middle East policy negotiations, and Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, have arrived in the Qatari capital, Doha, in advance of the talks.
Halkett said that Qatar is playing an instrumental role in trying to facilitate these talks, along with other regional US partners, including Egypt.
“We understand, according to a White House official, that this is perhaps part of the reason for the visit – to try and work with Qatar in an effort to try and get Iran to expand and build upon the format of these talks.”
Pressure on Iran
The talks come as the region braces for a potential US attack on Iran after US President Donald Trump ordered forces to amass in the Arabian Sea following a violent crackdown by Iran on protesters last month.
Washington has sent thousands of troops to the Middle East, as well as an aircraft carrier, other warships, fighter jets, spy planes and air refuelling tankers.
Trump has warned that “bad things” would probably happen if a deal could not be reached, ratcheting up pressure on Iran.
This is not the first time Iranian and US officials have met in a bid to revive diplomacy between the two nations, which have not had official diplomatic relations since 1980.
