By Alabi Williams 16 December 2024 | 4:40 am
In May 2016, President Muhammadu Buhari, was billed to attend an anti-corruption summit in the United Kingdom, the Prime Minister at the time, David Cameron, needed to brief the former Queen, Elizabeth 11 of the UK, on the upcoming summit. In a leaked video, the PM excitedly shared the purpose of the summit but remarked rather derisively that two fantastically corrupt countries, Nigeria and Afghanistan were billed to attend.
Justin Welby, who recently retired as Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England, was among those present, and he quipped that Buhari was not corrupt. Welby always had a liking for Buhari, perhaps based on the ascetic posture he manifested as military head of state. Civilian rule unveiled Buhari and his weaknesses.
Subscribe To The Best Team In Conservative, Business, Technology, Lifestyle And Digital News Realtime! support@ddnewsonline.com
The point is that Nigeria has for a long time been the butt of diplomatic jokes, such that it may not require the concerns of a Kemi Badenoch to escalate and advertise what is globally acknowledged. The reputation of Nigeria has suffered remarkable harm in the hands of the authorities. And that had been the case long before Badenoch was born. It thus doesn’t make much sense to make a mountain out of Badenoch’s lamentations about Nigeria, and in the process begin to imperil her political chances in the UK. It is just unfortunate that many have lost the capacity to speak the truth and accept admonitions that are designed to instigate penance.
The idea used to be that among different genres, practitioners deploy talent to lampoon and denounce bad governance. Literature was the tool African writers engaged to isolate and decry the rot in society, the corruption and wickedness in high places. In the 1960s and up to 80s, generations of Africans were conscientised to demand quality governance by digesting volumes of literature curated in the African Writers Series (AWS), where scholars depicted the travails of imperialism, alienation, colonialism and the fight for independence in Africa.
After Africa was liberated, so to say, the battle became how to free the people from internal colonialists and thieving predators. We loved all of it and looking back, that tradition is not in any way fundamentally different from what Badenoch has been lamenting.
The difference, perhaps, is that this Badenoch is a politician and leader of the British Conservative Party. Thanks to the good upbringing given by her Nigerian parents and the grooming of an open British society. She is used to saying things brashly the way they are, unlike the colouring and lying we have become accustomed to. She cannot hide in between cryptic verses to unleash salvos and be granted the coverage of poetic license.
The yabis (criticism) generations of Nigerians lived with, condoned and celebrated at the shrine of the Abami Eda, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the renowned protest poetry of the Wole Soyinkas, the conscience-pricking essays of the Chinua Achebes and the selfless activism of the Gani Fawehinmis, have become alien in a less tolerant political environment. In fact, they may be labeled treasonable conversations, simply because it is some people’s turn to supervise the cauldron.
It amounted to poor diplomacy on the part of this government when an agency announced in roaring headlines that the leader of the opposition in the UK, Badenoch, allegedly spurned an invitation to be celebrated for her election. The account pushed out by the unelected chairperson/CEO of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, was that they were snubbed when they reached out to her.
The conclusion was that NiDCOM reached out to Badenoch a few times and got no response. Therefore, Nigeria will not force the newly elected leader to identify with her Nigerian roots. Hear Dabiri-Erewa: “It depends on if she identifies the Nigerianess in her. We have reached out to her once or twice without any response, so we don’t force people to accept to be Nigerian.”
Subscribe To The Best Team In Conservative, Business, Technology, Lifestyle And Digital News Realtime! support@ddnewsonline.com
The thing is that this government and the one before have cultivated the habit of celebrating Diaspora Nigerians who attain visibility and success in sports, politics and other endeavours. It is a commendable thing to do if it is not contrived as propaganda. Feeding from Dabiri-Erewa’s much publicised position, different platforms and persons have reached and propagated the opinion that Badenoch doesn’t want to acknowledge her Nigerianess.
A lot have been said to defame her, particularly referencing the memoire wherein she lamented the deprivations she lived with while growing up in Nigeria a few decades ago. All that she said there didn’t sound like fiction. They’re still the realities that more than 100 million Nigerians live with, having no access to potable water, dealing with grassroots insecurity and cult groups operate freely in same neighbourhoods where Badenoch once traversed, poverty of the highest order, not to mention more than 10 years of terrorism.
Many Nigerians were stunned when Vice President, Kashim Shettima, took umbrage at Badenoch, again for the campaign remarks she made in her quest to becoming the Tory party leader. The occasion was the 10th National Migration Dialogue, which took place last week in Abuja.
According to the VP, Badenoch denigrated Nigeria with her comments and she needed to drop her Nigerian name, Kemi. He went on to make comparison between her and Rishi Sunak, former Prime Minister, who he claimed did not denigrate India, his original country.
Commentators are wondering why Shettima would abandon weightier matters of state to meddle in locker-room conversations. Badenoch had just been elected leader, after her party suffered electoral defeat. She’s just testing the waters. There are bigger players in the Conservative Party who decided to hang on and see how things play out. It was an outing for her to study and gauge the mood of the polity, not yet a time to roll out the drums. I guess many mistook that restraint on her part to mean hubris and they decided to give her the Nigerian treatment.
Subscribe To The Best Team In Conservative, Business, Technology, Lifestyle And Digital News Realtime! support@ddnewsonline.com
The Nigerian treatment is vengeful and unforgiving. It has capacity to warehouse generations of political malice and is ready to inflict harm at the slightest opportunity. Remember there was a Kemi Adeosun, also a British-Nigerian, who was invited to work with politicians in Ogun State. She rose to become a fantastic Minister of Finance in the Buhari government.
As it turned out, those who arranged her coming to Nigeria did not waste time to arrange her send-forth, which they did so treacherously, in a manner of enemies within.
If Badenoch as leader of UK opposition decides to stand with one leg for now, like the proverbial chicken, it can only be by the prodding of native intelligence. Those who ought to know and should cover her errors (if they are), were the first to drag her to the market place to name and shame.
Shettima’s much-trumped scholarship failed him when he rashly picked on the lady instead of the serious agenda provided by the migration dialogue. Thousands of young Nigerians are leaving the shores as undocumented migrants through deadly routes in Sahara Desert, because the conditions at home are unbearable for people outside government. Even skilled workers are leaving as companies are closing shop because of high cost of doing business. Shettima should have worried himself about that.
Shettima should have picked on the widespread insecurity in the land, which he promised to tackle during the 2023 campaigns. He boasted that Bola Tinubu would handle the economy and he would tackle insecurity. Under their watch, both the economy and insecurity are struggling. If indeed as he boasted that Nigeria is Africa’s best country, the standard of living of the people should have rated much better.
Subscribe To The Best Team In Conservative, Business, Technology, Lifestyle And Digital News Realtime! support@ddnewsonline.com
Instead, Nigeria ranks too low on several indices among African countries. Let’s stop making empty boasts, especially when we’re addressing the international community. They know us too well, especially in the UK, where our politicians hide stolen loot. The UK system jailed James Ibori for theft and nailed Ike Ekweremadu for cutting corners and seeking self-help. Many of today’s political class will be in jail were they to be in the UK.
Let those who purport to be scholars act and behave well. One of the celebrated works in the African Writers Series is that of Ayikwei Armah, The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born. Set in Ghana, it is the story of leadership failure and abysmal decadence in post-independent Ghana. It was the story of a broken system depicted by putrefaction and filth, like a broken sewage. But there was hope in a few who believe in doing right no matter the difficulties.
Today, the beautiful ones have arrived as Ghana is celebrated for delivering an outstanding presidential election, similar to UK’s last election, with no guns, no bribery and no glitches. Very likely, Kemi Badenoch is happy for Ghana. She would have been happier and quick to identify with Nigeria if Africa’s most endowed country had not dug herself into a cesspit of electoral corruption and other types of roguery.
Those who are yet to account for failing to protect the Chibok girls who were kept in their care should not think Nigerians have forgotten. They have ruined lives and destroyed destinies and they come pretending to be scholars. And those who are scheming to steal elections in 2027 should brace up for surprises. The people are warming up not to be fooled anymore.
Subscribe To The Best Team In Conservative, Business, Technology, Lifestyle And Digital News Realtime! support@ddnewsonline.com
As for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Ghana didn’t learn anything from you. You had the opportunity to make a difference in 2023, but you allowed partisanship to becloud your sense of judgment. You repeated the same thing in Edo 2024 and you make Nigeria a laughing stock in Africa. You’re the one denigrating Nigeria, together with politicians, not Kemi Badenoch.
The Electoral Act 2022 is one of the best documents in Africa. But the problem here is largely not about laws, but more of character deficiency and the inability to look in the face of the big man and say No!
Note: This article was first published by The Guardian Newspaper.
Opinions expressed by Columnists/Contributors is theirs and do NOT necessarily reflect the views of DDNewsonline.com