Trump fires Tillerson, US secretary of state
President Donald Trump of the US has fired Rex Tillerson, US secretary of state.
Tillerson was replaced with Mike Pompeo, director of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
The president announced this on Twitter.
Mike Pompeo, Director of the CIA, will become our new Secretary of State. He will do a fantastic job! Thank you to Rex Tillerson for his service! Gina Haspel will become the new Director of the CIA, and the first woman so chosen. Congratulations to all!
Advertisement— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 13, 2018
The development comes less than 24 hours after Tillerson rounded off his visit to five African countries, including Nigeria.
The African trip ended one day ahead of schedule in order to make Tillerson “deal with urgent work there”, according to one of his spokesmen.
The spokesman told reporters travelling with him that top US diplomat’s travel plans changed so that he could return to Washington early on Tuesday morning instead of late that night.
Tillerson had cancelled the plan to spend the night in Abuja.
He met President Muhammadu Buhari and addressed the media alongside Geoffrey Onyeama, minister of foreign affairs.
The sacked secretary of state had pledged the assistance of the US government to assist Nigeria in many ways, including rescuing the schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram.
Moral of the story. Do not visit Muhammadu Buhari or shake hands with Geoffrey Onyema hence you will be sacked and loose you job.