On May 22, 2024, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) posted on their verified Instagram page that Shehu Shagari is the only Nigerian leader to make a state visit to the United States (US). He was said to have met Ronald Reagan, the then-president of the US.
On the same day, an X user (formerly Twitter), uploaded the picture attached to the BBC Africa page with the claim that “President Shehu Shagari is the only Nigerian leader to make a state visit to the United States. Interesting!”
As of the time of this report, the tweet has garnered over 15,000 views.
Claim: Is Shehu Shagari the only Nigerian leader to make a state visit to the US?
Verification:
Shehu Shagari was the first democratically elected Nigerian president on October 1st 1979. He was eventually overthrown by Muhammadu Buhari on December 31, 1983, bringing his over four years of leadership to an end.
While serving as the president, Sheu Shagari was on an official visit to the US between October 3 to 8, 1980. The CDD War Room found that before his visit, two Nigerian leaders had made state visits to the US and after him, one Nigerian leader visited the US on a state visit.
On July 25, 1961, on the invitation of John F Kennedy, Tafawa Balewa, the then prime minister of Nigeria paid a state visit to America. He left the US three days later on July 28, 1961.
Between October 10 to 15, 1977, Lieutenant General Olusegun Obasanjo, the then military head of state paid a state visit to the US on the invitation of Jimmy Carter, the then-president of the US.
In June 2015, Muhammadu Buhari visited the United States on a state visit to honour an invitation from Barack Obama, the then-president of America.
The CDD War Room found that in October 1971, Richard Nixon, the then American president invited Major General Yakubu Gowon, requesting him to make a state visit to the US. Yakubu Gowon initially accepted the invitation but eventually declined and did not honour the visit until he was overthrown in July 1975.
The difference between a state visit and an official visit
A state visit is a formal visit by the head of state of one country to the head of state of another country. A state visit is usually at the invitation of the host country’s leader and the host country bears the cost of the expenses incurred during the visit. A state visit is the highest rank in the category of foreign visits and is accorded only to people serving as heads of state. In the case of Monarchs, only the King can be accorded a State Visit.
On the other hand, an official visit involves any senior official from the Head of state to Cabinet members and other senior ranking officials from one government to another.
The key difference that separates an official and a state visit is that a state visit is strictly based on an invitation extended by the host country to the visiting head of state. In the state visit, ceremonial protocols are important because the visit shows the highest level of bilateral relationship between two countries. Also, it is only the head of state that can honour a state visit while an official visit can be honoured by the head of state or any other high-ranking government official. In most instances, when a head of state is on an official visit the ceremonial protocols are skipped.
Verdict: FALSE
The CDD War Room found that Shehu Shagari was not the only Nigerian leader to make a state visit to the US. We found that Tafawa Balewa, Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari are the Nigerian leaders who have also made state visits to the US at the invitation of the American presidents.
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