Expectedly, world leaders and pretty much every person has expectations of the President-elect of the United States of America, Donald J Trump. America is still the foremost superpower militarily and economically, and the arrival of a new helmsman at the White House is bound to raise all kinds of presumptions.

President Bola Tinubu’s congratulatory message to Trump was appropriately worded. It harped on the need to foster cooperation for world peace and prosperity. The main opposition leaders, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, also weighed in, with particular emphasis on how free and fair election threw up the true choice of the American people without any iota of violence.

However, while Obi hoped Nigerians would emulate their American counterparts for more credible elections, Atiku in a post on his X handle, said among other things: “It is the expectation of every Nigerian that the Trump administration will stand resolute in ensuring free and fair elections in Nigeria and other parts of the world”.

Trump is not a stranger in world leadership. He occupied the White House between 2016 and 2020, and he has a clear set of visions which he did not depart from during the just-ended campaigns. Trump is an American patriot, an “America First” ideologue. Our expectations must be derived from his core campaign promises of sealing America’s borders against illegal migrants and commencing “the largest deportations” of illegal migrants in history.

This will surely affect many Nigerians and Africans who are staying in America illegally. We should expect many of these people to be brought back. Trump will also exploit American oil for domestic energy security. We should expect a measured fall in the price of oil worldwide, and it will affect our economy. If we don’t diversify, we will be further impoverished.

In addition to doing everything he can to reduce America’s involvement in wars abroad with little bearing on its national interests, Trump will actively look for opportunities to expand trade. This is where Africa and Nigeria should also be exploring opportunities.

We should push for the African Growth and Opportunity Act, AGOA, which grants duty-free access to certain products made in Africa to the US markets to be upgraded, especially with our large and growing diaspora population over there.

Trump may not bother much about “human rights” and how regimes come and go here. This is the agenda of the Barack Obama-led Democratic Party which was in 2015 used to interfere in our elections and foster regime change. Trump is unlikely to meet Atiku’s expectation of “ensuring free and fair elections in Nigeria”.

It is the duty of Nigerians to fight for free and fair elections, just as the Americans have just done.

We must know what not to expect from Trump.