NGO Faults David Cameron’s comment on Nigeria, Advises Buhari to Boycott Anti-corruption Summit

A Non Governmental Organization, Advocacy for Advancement of Peace and Harmony in Africa Initiative (ADAPHAI) on Wednesday May 11, 2016 urged President Muhammadu Buhari to boycott the anti-corruption summit billed to hold on Thursday.

The advice came on heels of statement credited to the British Prime Minister, David Cameron in which he described Nigeria as” fantastically corrupt country” alongside Afganistan as two most corrupt countries in the world.

The organisation, through its Executive Director, Mr Olaniyi Ajibola in exclusive interview with CityMirrorNews made a case for outright boycott of the proposed anti-corruption summit by Nigerian President to press home the displeasure of teeming Nigerians over the comment.

Ajibola argued that the presence of President Buhari at the summit would tactically make mockery of presidency’s reaction to the statement, adding that the only way the presidency could display seriousness on his stance over the comment is for Buhari to boycott the summit.

He said the basic underlying factor of foreign policy is countries’ domestic interests, adding that the domestic interest of Nigeria could not have been protected by labelling it a corrupt country and one of the two most notorious in the world.

“Without mincing words, Cameron’s statement was highly unguided and diplomatically unacceptable; it has regrettably eroded the sincerity and credence of the proposed anti-corruption summit.

“It is on that premise that we are imploring President Muhammadu Buhari to boycott the summit as a way of expressing the reservations of millions of Nigeria over the comment, and thereafter demand for reversal of the statement.

“Sincerely, Brutain lacks every moral viber to paint Nigeria black on corruption, aside being the architect of every dark side of its former colony, in every one looter from Nigeria, there are two acomplices in the United Kingdom.

“Aside the boycott, the president must make the prime minister realize the economic danger embedded in his statement and expose the emptiness of that conclusion through logical analysis of his anti-corruption campaign,” Ajibola remarked.

The peace advocate further explained that the labelling of Nigeria as “fantastically corrupt nation” was indeed a bad omen for the investment drive of the government and recipe to serious crisis in the real sector of the economy.

“It takes conscious vigilance of government to calculate the inherent economic danger in a statement of that weight, from such a political figure.

“Obviously, no seriously minded investor will bring his capital to invest in a notoriously corrupt nation, hence, the very need for the presidency to take Cameron’s statement very serious and tackle it with blunt diplomacy.

“The garulousity of Cameron was explicitly exposed by the silence of Queen Elizabeth, and the swift response of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby that president Muhammadu Buhari is not corrupt and working hard against corruption.