British Prime Minister, David Cameron, has described Nigeria and Afghanistan as “fantastically corrupt” in a conversation with the Queen of England, Elizabeth II. However, in a swift reaction, the Presidency said the British Prime Minister, Mr. Cameron, still had the “old snapshot” of what Nigeria was before the coming of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to have described it as “fantastically corrupt” alongside Afghanistan.Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II speaks with British Prime Minister David Cameron (2nd R) during a reception in Buckingham Palace in London on May 10, 2016 where called Nigeria and Afghanistan “possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world” as he hailed their leaders’ attendance at an anti-corruption summit in London.
While talking about this week’s anti-corruption summit billed to hold in London tomorrow, where President Muhammadu Buhari will give a keynote address, Cameron said: “We have got some leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain— Nigeria and Afghanistan— possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world.” Asked whether he knew he was being filmed, the Prime Minister said: “There were multiple cameras in the room.”
After Mr. Cameron’s comments, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, intervened: “But this particular President is not corrupt. He is trying very hard,” before Speaker, John Bercow, said: “They are coming at their own expense, one assumes?” The conversation took place at Buckingham Palace at an event to mark the Queen’s 90th birthday. BBC diplomatic correspondent, James Landale, described the Prime Minister’s comments as a “truthful gaffe,” because the two countries involved were widely perceived as having a corruption problem.
Afghanistan was ranked 167, ahead of only Somalia and North Korea, in Transparency International’s 2015 corruption perception index. Nigeria was at 136. With his remark, the archbishop was believed to have been referring to President Muhammadu Buhari, who won elections last year promising to fight widespread corruption. The government will host world and business leaders at the summit tomorrow in London, aiming to “galvanise a global response to tackle corruption.” Speaking ahead of the summit, Mr. Cameron said: “For too long, there has been a taboo about tackling this issue head-on. The summit will change that. Together we will push the fight against corruption to the top of the international agenda, where it belongs.” Nigeria reacts The Presidency, through the Senior Special Assistant to Buhari on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said that the remark was not reflective of the anti-corruption stance of the present regime in Nigeria, saying “it is certainly not reflective of the good work that the President is doing.
“The eyes of the world are on what is happening here. The Prime Minister must be looking at an old snapshot of Nigeria. Things are changing. That, we believe, is the reason they chose him as a keynote speaker at the pre-summit conference. “Thank you to the Archbishop Justin Welby. We very much cherish the good relationship between our two countries and nothing should stand in the way of improving those relations.”
Precedents Last year Mr. Cameron was recorded talking about Yorkshire people “hating each other” and he was previously caught revealing how the Queen “purred” with pleasure when he told her the Scottish independence referendum result. Asked whether the Prime Minister had apologised to the Queen over the corruption remarks, his official spokesman said the presidents of Nigeria and Afghanistan had “acknowledged the scale of the corruption challenge they face in their respective countries.”
