The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, yesterday defended the integrity of President Muhammadu Buhari before British Prime Minister David Cameron, Speaker John Bercow and Queen Elizabeth II, saying that Buhari is not a corrupt leader.
Prime Minister Cameron had been caught on camera ridiculing Nigeria as a “fantastically corrupt” country yesterday afternoon.
He made the comments while talking about the forthcoming anti-corruption summit in the UK.
In the short footage, published by British television station, ITV News, Mr Cameron told the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, that Nigeria and Afghanistan are “two of the most corrupt countries in the world.”
It was not clear whether he knew the comments were being recorded.
“We’ve got some leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain… Nigeria and Afghanistan, possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world,” Cameron said.
But the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, intervened to say this of Buhari: “But this particular president is not corrupt… he’s trying very hard,” before Speaker John Bercow said: “They are coming at their own expense, one assumes?”
Also reacting to Cameron’s comments, managing director of Transparency International, Cobus de Swardt, acknowledged that Buhari had been working hard at minimising corruption in Nigeria, even as he indicted the UK for accommodating stolen wealth.
He said: “There is no doubt that, historically, Nigeria and Afghanistan have had very high levels of corruption, and that continues to this day, but the leaders of those countries have sent strong signals that they want things to change, and the London Anti-Corruption Summit creates an opportunity for all the countries present to sign up to a new era.
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“This affects the UK as much as other countries: we should not forget that by providing a safe haven for corrupt assets, the UK and its Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies are a big part of the world’s corruption problem.”
The presidency has also faulted Cameron’s statement, saying he must be referring to Nigeria of the past.
According to the presidency, the prime minister must be looking at an old snapshot of Nigeria as.
In a statement by the president’s senior special assistant on media, Garba Shehu, he welcomed the remarks by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who had insisted that President Buhari was not corrupt.
Shehu said, “It (Cameron’s statement) 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 with corruption and everything else. That, we believe, is the reason they chose him (Buhari) as a keynote speaker at the pre-summit conference.
“Thank you to the Archbishop. We very much cherish the good relationship between our two countries and nothing should stand in the way of improving those relations.”
Nigerians have also expressed sadness over the unguarded comment of the British prime minister, describing it as “undiplomatic and unfortunate.”
Meanwhile, the president departed Nigeria yesterday to attend the anti-corruption summit organised by the UK government.