12 Aug 2009
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is set to meet a number of Nigerian opposition figures to confer electoral and anti-corruption reforms with them.

Former head of state Muhammadu Buhari and former vice president Atiku Abubakar are among those to be invited to the meeting with Clinton, allafrica reported Wednesday.

"The meeting with the political leaders is to discuss the challenges of Nigerian politics and possible ways forward for democratic development in the country," said an American embassy official in Abuja.

Clinton's visit to the Nigerian capital, Abuja, is the most important in sub-Saharan Africa, as Nigeria is described as the most corrupt state in the world's third largest continent.

She will leave Nigeria on Thursday for Liberia and will round off her seven-nation tour in Cape Verde. Her visit to the world's second-largest continent comes a month after the US President Barack Obama paid a visit to Ghana.

Nigeria recently witnessed week-long fierce clashes between security forces and Taliban-inspired insurgent group, Boko Haram. The bloody skirmishes eventually came to an end following the death of the sect's leader, Mohammed Yusuf.

About 700 people lost their lives and nearly 4,000 others were forced to abandon their homes in last week's violence in northern Nigeria.
presstv