US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has expressed commitment to further strengthening US-Nigeria partnership with the incoming administration of President-elect Bola Tinubu.

Matthew Miller, US department of state spokesperson, said Blinken spoke with Tinubu, who is in France, on Tuesday.

The conversation between the incoming president and Mr. Blinken is coming barely some days after the US government said it was imposing visa restrictions on Nigerians who allegedly disrupted the recently concluded elections.

Miller confirmed that the two leaders “discussed the importance of inclusive leadership that represents all Nigerians, continued comprehensive security cooperation, and reforms to support economic growth”.

“Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke this morning with Nigerian President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu to emphasize his continued commitment to further strengthening the U.S.-Nigeria relationship with the incoming administration,” the statement reads.

“The Secretary noted that the U.S.-Nigeria partnership is built on shared interests and strong people-to-people ties and that those links should continue to strengthen under President-elect Tinubu’s tenure. Secretary Blinken and President-elect Tinubu discussed the importance of inclusive leadership that represents all Nigerians, continued comprehensive security cooperation, and reforms to support economic growth.”

The candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Mr. Tinubu was declared the winner of the February 25 presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

He scored a total of 8,794,726 votes, the highest of all the candidates.

He will be replacing president Muhammadu Buhari who will be completing his two two terms of eight years as stipulated by the Nigerian constitution.