Though it colonized Nigeria and can boast of
decency and superior infrastructure in terms of
social development to the extent of vilifying the
country before the international community, Britain
may have just been humbled by the candour and
diplomatic finesse of a black leader over its
provocative, uncultured, hard stance on Nigeria.
Call it an elitist chat, joke or informal meeting, you
would only be glorying a sorry situation. To many
informed minds, it was nothing less than a gossip.
Unfortunately, that was the gutter level the
supposedly father of the English world reduced
both himself and his utopian community last week.
His case gives credence and aptly amplifies a
popular African saying that “everyday is for the
thief but one day is for the owner of the house”.
Perhaps, he had the penchant of tattling on
irrelevancies in secret but, on that day, he
completely became oblivious of a fate that was
looming..
Out from a cabinet meeting, the British Prime
Minister, Mr. David Cameron, decided to report
Nigeria to Queen Elizabeth II. The report: That two
“fantastically corrupt” nations, Nigeria and
Afghanistan would be attending the World Anti-
Corruption Summit which held between Wednesday
and Thursday in London and hosted by Cameron
himself.
In the video that went viral and showed Cameron
standing with the Queen, the Archbishop of
Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the Speaker of the
House of Commons, John Bercow, one could see
Cameron as he made a caricature of Nigeria.
But Cameron’s “chi” failed him on that fateful day.
Like in the other whittle-tattles he got away from,
on this day, television cameras were on him and
he got so carried away that he didn’t notice them.
The same could be said of Bercow who
ridiculously asked if the two nations were attending
the summit at their own expense. The question is:
What point were these officials trying to score?
But thank goodness for Welby, who gave
President Muhammadu Buhari a clean bill of
health, affirming his anti-corruption stance even
though his interjection made no appreciable impact
as the other men turned deaf ears to the remark.
Indeed, any country bashed in the manner Nigeria
and Afghanistan were, no one would blame its
leaders for either shying or staying away from a
summit organized by their bashers.
But trust Buhari. He remained unperturbed. Even
when anger boiled over at home, tongues wagged
on and calls almost reached a crescendo for him
to make a u-turn and forget the meeting, the
President was calm and calculated. He had some
other way to reply Cameron.
Then came the media who inquired from him in the
course of the the summit whether he would
demand an apology from Cameron. Buhari said it
was unnecessary.
To him, what was so important was the
repatriation of the stolen wealth stashed away in
London and elsewhere outside the shores of
Nigeria.
He said: “I am not going to demand an apology
from anybody. What I am demanding is a return of
assets … This is what I am asking for. What would
I do with an apology? I need something tangible.”
But the President was to shock Nigerians the more
when he admitted to journalists that Nigeria was
“fantastically corrupt”, thus corroborating
Cameron’s position.
He spoke to Sky News’ Diplomatic Editor, Dominic
Waghorn, in London, in a 29 seconds chat.
Sky news: Will you like an apology from the prime
minister?
Buhari: No, no not at all.
Sky news: Are you embarrassed by what he said?
Buhari: No I’m not.
Sky news: Is Nigeria fantastically corrupt?
Buhari: Yes
Buhari’s mien
To many, Buhari’s admittance was the height of
betrayal. They had expected him to return
Cameron’s insult on Nigeria even with a harsher
measure. But the president was more intelligent.
He was smarter. How? By demanding the return of
the looted funds kept in UK’s banks, Buhari only
laughed at the ignorance of the white man who
would gladly accept looted assets without qualms.
In Nigeria and perhaps, elsewhere in the white
lands, there is a law that sees both the bribe giver
and taker guilty of the same offense. For one,
“accomplice” is an English vocabulary, yet,
Cameron forgot that. Whereas a Cameron would
have rejected a sinner Nigerian with his looted
funds, he, the British saint, unbelievably provided a
safe haven for the assets. What was his interest?
Yes, Buhari admitted Nigeria is “fantastically
corrupt”, but what about the recipient of the
assets? The latest insult on Nigeria is not the first
time Britain is promoting a diplomatic row with
Nigeria. Around June, 2013, the UK government
nnounced an imposition of £3,000 as travel bonds
on the citizens of six countries which included
Nigeria, Ghana, Bangladesh, Sri-Lanka, Pakistan
and India. While Nigeria and Ghana are West-
African countries, the rest are Asian. According to
the government, these countries were “high risk”
countries.
Interestingly, these countries were colonized by
Britain and so, are tucked into the conglomerate of
the Commonwealth Nations.
But Commonwealth is an intimacy that seems to
be lost on the home policy of the British
government each time it needed to attack its
former colonies.
In September 1986, the Margaret Thatcher
administration decided, at the end of a cabinet
meeting, that, in future, travelers from Nigeria,
India, Ghana, Bangladesh and Pakistan would need
to obtain visas in their own countries before
traveling to the UK. Before then, nationals of all
Commonwealth nations, except Sri Lanka, did not
need visas to travel to the UK.
Of a truth, these unfriendly decisions of the UK
government against its former colonies put to
question the relationship the country has with the
former colonies.
Perhaps, no other lines could be so appropriate to
let the international community understand what it
has done to Nigeria than the words of Buhari who,
in his speech at the Anti-Corruption Summit,
accused it of shying away from the anti-corruption
fight, urging it to create anti-corruption
infrastructure and a strategic action plan to
facilitate the speedy repatriation of stolen funds
hidden in secret bank accounts abroad.
“When it comes tackling corruption, the
international community has unfortunately looked
away for too long. We need to step up and tackle
this evil together. That is why we have gathered
here today”.
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