UPDATE 2-U.S. official cautiously optimistic on Nigeria's Buhari after election| Reuters(Adds Jonath...

1. UPDATE 2-US official cautiously optimistic on Nigeria's
Buhari after election
UPDATE 2-U.S. official cautiously optimistic on Nigeria's Buhari after election
| Reuters
(Adds Jonathan concedes election, think tank comment)
By Arshad Mohammed
WASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) - Nigerian oppositioncandidate Muhammadu Buhari, who
appears to have defeatedPresident Goodluck Jonathan in Nigeria's weekend election, won acautious
endorsement from a U.S. official on Tuesday.
Buhari's opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) claimedvictory and said Jonathan had called
Buhari to concede thepresidency of Africa's most populous country and top oilproducer.
The U.S. State Department official who asked not to be namedsaid Washington was ready to work
with whoever wasdemocratically elected in Nigeria and offered an optimistic,though cautious,
assessment of Buhari.
"Buhari has peacefully contested the last few presidentialelections and accepted the results of those
votes, even when hequestioned the credibility of the process," the official said.
"His leadership of the opposition over these years hasdemonstrated a commitment to democracy
that would seem tosuggest he is participating in Nigeria's new era that began in1999," he said.
Jonathan's People's Democratic Party (PDP) has been incharge since the end of army rule in 1999
but had been losingpopularity due to a string of corruption scandals and the riseof the Boko Haram
Islamist insurgency in the northeast.
Buhari headed the government between 1983 and 1985 afterseizing power in a military coup d'etat.
He was seen as tough oncorruption and rebellions, but he was viewed by many Nigeriansas a
military strongman who trampled civil liberties.

2. U.S.-Nigerian ties have been strained by U.S. frustration atJonathan's failure to move more
aggressively against Boko Haram,which has killed thousands of people in its attempt to carve outan
Islamic state.
Nigeria has accused the United States of failing to sell itarms it needs to fight Boko Haram and of
not sharing enoughintelligence. It has also rejected claims of human rights abusesthat have limited
some U.S. military assistance.

3. J. Peter Pham, director of the Atlantic Council think tank'sAfrica Center, suggested there was a
desire on both sides for anew chapter in the relationship.
"There has been such frustration on the part of theadministration and policymakers with the last few
years of theJonathan administration that ... a number of people (here) havetaken the attitude that
any change would be good," he said.
"Any opportunity for a 'reset' in the relationship, or atleast to start afresh, I think will be welcomed
by both sides." (Reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Additional reporting by LesleyWroughton; Editing
by David Storey, Toni Reinhold)
http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/03/31/nigeria-election-usa-idINL2N0WX1IP20150331