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British PM David Cameron Under Fire Over Rude Comment On Nigeria
May 11, 2016 – British Media House Blasts David Cameron Over Undiplomatic Comment On Nigeria
The Guardian has come up to defend Nigeria in the wake of the rude comment British Prime Minister David Cameron made about Nigeria in London yesterday
During a meeting with Queen Elizabeth, Cameron said Nigeria and Afghanistan are fantastically corrupt countries.
The Guardian tagged Mr Cameron as hypocrite for his undiplomatic comment in this new editorial
The editorial reads:
There are times when a manual earth-restructuring implement is best referred to as a spade, so let us speak plainly. A summit on corruption will be held on Thursday in a city that is internationally recognised (by the IMF, among others) as a tax haven. It is being hosted by a politician who admitted last month that he has personally profited from offshore finance and whose party is bankrolled by an industry that makes extravagant use of those same tax havens. Not only that, he has intervened to aid tax avoiders.
That’s right, David Cameron is holding a meeting on corruption.
The prime minister is not personally corrupt – but he is certainly guilty of epic hypocrisy. So, for that matter, are Britain and the west. They have spent decades ordering poor countries and failed states to sort out their problems with dodgy money, even while taking much of that dodgy money and ploughing it through their banks, their ritzy stores, their estate agents, and their offshore tax havens – with barely any questions asked or eyebrows raised.When Mr Cameron was caught on camera on Tuesday boasting to the Queen of the “fantastically corrupt countries” turning up at Lancaster House this week, he might have mentioned that Afghanistan is a failed state that did not get any less failed over 13 years of British intervention. And he should certainly have mentioned that the president of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, is coming to London to lobby it to sort out the tax havens in its own backyard. Indeed, Mr Cameron might have quoted a letter sent to him a fortnight ago by campaigners in Nigeria.
“We are embarked on a nationwide anti-corruption campaign,” the letter said. “But these efforts are sadly undermined if countries such as your own are welcoming our corrupt to hide their ill-gotten gains in your luxury homes, department stores, car dealerships, private schools and anywhere else that will accept their cash with no questions asked. The role of London’s property market as vessels to conceal stolen wealth has been exposed in court documents, reports, documentaries and more.”
So the president of the Nigerian senate, Bukola Saraki, currently facing allegations that he failed to declare his assets, owns a property in London’s Belgravia in his own name. But last month’s Panama Papers revealed that the £5.7m property next door is owned by companies incorporated in the Seychelles and British Virgin Islands, whose respective shareholders are Saraki’s wife and former special assistant. And a £1.65m townhouse in Kensington is shown as belonging to a BVI company whose sole shareholder is Folorunsho Coker, former head of the number plate production authority of the state of Lagos and currently business adviser to the governor of Lagos. None of these individuals may have done anything wrong, but the charge from those campaigners is hard to duck. Under successive governments, from Thatcher to Blair to Cameron, London has become the financial centre for the world’s dirty money.
A third of all the trillions hiding offshore are sitting in tax havens linked to the UK, according to Oxfam. These havens rely on Britain for security and protection. The Jersey pound note features the Queen. On the Caymans, they sing as the national anthem God Save the Queen. Yet Whitehall persists in pretending they are autonomous – even though London has overridden them before, on the abolition of capital punishment, say, or the decriminalising of homosexual acts. It will not do so on shady finance, however. The result is that Britain will soon bring in a public register of who ultimately owns the companies listed here – even while its overseas territories won’t. The Caymans and the rest claim that this is because they are home to perfectly legitimate operations – in which case, what have they got to hide?
This fudge suits both the City and the havens. The accountancy firms and tax lawyers and wealth managers in London will continue to reap fat fees by using their branch offices scattered across offshore Britain to look after clients seeking low tax and secrecy – even while the UK can claim that its domestic financial industry is as clean as can be. Few will call this corruption or hypocrisy, as it wears a sharp suit and talks so nicely.
subtile
May 11, 2016 at 5:59 PM
Is not his fault, i feel they see us finish through our corrupt leaders,check out his comment is not for Notting, may God help nigeria.an deliver us from blood suckers.
Big Aunty Koks
May 11, 2016 at 6:38 PM
Let’s prove them wrong by being upright.
Maryf
May 12, 2016 at 3:04 PM
Are they upright themselves?
bOKEEM
May 11, 2016 at 7:02 PM
why are we blaming him, ofcourse we are fantastically corrupt, why under fire, Buhari corrupt campaign had made clear that NIGERIA IS INDEED FANTASTICALLY CORRUPT,
Jojo
May 11, 2016 at 7:25 PM
Na who teach us how to thief??? Na the same British. I don’t blame him.
Lati
May 11, 2016 at 9:25 PM
THANK YOU JOJO FOR THIS COMMENT.
I BELIEVED THAT ALL COMMENTATORS DO NOT READ PROPERLY WHAT WAS WRITTEN BY GUARDIAN.
BRITISH CALLING ANOTHER COUNTRY FANTASTICALLY CORRUPT WHEN MR AND MRS BLOODY CORRUPTION HAS BEEN LIVING IN NO 10 BEFORE I WAS BORN.
MR CAMERON, CAN YOU EXPLAIN
WHAT YOU ARE DOING IN SERIA LEONE TILL PRESENT IF NOT CORRUPTION ( BLOOD DIAMOND LOOTER)
WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN SYRIA (HELPING THE COUNTRY BY REFINING THE OIL IN THE COUNTRY)
WHY FIGHTING TO KILL GADAFI WHEN MUGABE WAS KILLING BRITISH PEOPLE IN ZIMBABWE (LOOTING LIBYA OIL RESERVE)
THIS IS NOT MENTION FEW TO ALL COUNTRIES YOU HAVE DESTROYED WITH YOUR CORRUPTION, STEALING
THE GUARDIAN PAPER SAID ALL MONEY STOLEN BY AFRICAN LEADERS ARE ALL INVEST IN UK THROUGH
PROPERTY
CAR
SHOPPING
TO MENTION FEW
BY THE WAY, WHERE IS THE HOME OF CORRUPTION, ARM ROBBERS, STEALING BY DOCUMENTS. ETC
UNITED KINGDOM, USA AND DUBAI
MR BUHARI SAYS HE DOES NOT WANT YOUR APOLOGY BUT TO RETURN ALL NIGERIAN ASSET IN YOUR CARE TO BE ABLE TO CLEAN BRITAIN OUT OF THIS CORRUPTION.
BRITISH
BARAO
OLE
YOU DONT THINK BEFORE YOU TALK, YOU JUST OPEN YOUR MOUTH ANY HOW, MR PRIME MINISTER – THE ROOT AND FOUNDATION OF CORRUPTION STARTED FORM YOUR COUNTRY UK BEFORE YOU WERE BORN.
REMEMBER THAT IF YOU WANT TO DESTROY ANY COUNTRY BECAUSE THEIR RESOURCES, YOU ALWAYS CREATE DRAMA – SENT ARMY TO GO TO WAR IN ORDER TO FIGHT AND STEAL FROM THE COUNTRY. THAT IS CALLED ARM ROBBER, AND YOU WILL CLAIM THAT YOU ARE HELPING THE COUNTRY.
WE LEARN FROM YOU AND LEARN BEST.
Jojo
May 11, 2016 at 11:53 PM
@ Lati thank you for enlightening some people,infact 20 gboza for you. You know history nor be small. Very very well said . Thank you.
Uzoma
May 11, 2016 at 7:27 PM
What the prime minister said is correct. Do you want him to say Nigeria is not corrupt?. It is like what Donald Trump said about African leaders especially Nigeria and Kenya; that their leaders loot their country’s money and come and dump in the West while their citizens suffer; that it will be ok to re-colonize Africa for the next 100 years because their leaders do not know leadership”. Look at the charade going on in the country now. From senate president to the gutter cleaner, everybody is corrupt. It is not that there are no upright individuals in Nigeria but they are ridiculed for being honest.
p.a salami
May 11, 2016 at 10:30 PM
Prime minister of Britain has got sugar coated mouth and he always misjai believing he is the best among other world leaders believed me or not Nigeria is most corrupted country as coated in the continent yes of course but who taught Nigeria about corruption before Buhari regime comes in to the limelight all looted Nigeria treasure was deposited in various banks in the world but majority of the looted money was in British banks. When Mohammadu Buhari was elected his first point of call was Britain to meet prime minister to discussed about looted monies from outsted president of Nigeria regime in which David Cameron knows about the stolen money deposited in various banks in britain but up till now PM is still adamant to authorised the looted monies back to Nigeria govt this is now known to the world can PM of Britain authorised all stolen & looted monies from Nigeria in their various banks to the Nigeria government actually this is quite unbelievable that PM can utter this expensive and dissapoited word out to the world .
Danti
May 11, 2016 at 11:59 PM
Only a nitwit will disagree with him. What happened to the funds that were allocated to fights all forms of crime in the country during the tenure of Jonothing? Every process in Nigeria requires direct or indirect inducement for you to scale through. The man used a decent language compare to how we say it in Yoruba language : aiye Naija ti baje pelu riba. If you don’t like both of these, then Donald Trump (king of all madness) will say it nicely!
fifelomo
May 12, 2016 at 3:34 AM
@Lati has said it all.
sola olaniyi
May 12, 2016 at 7:22 AM
Which yeye under fire..The man is right abeg
chuks
May 12, 2016 at 12:42 PM
he just said what is knows that is trending in the whole world about Nigeria
Flo
May 12, 2016 at 12:46 PM
MR Lati, thanks for your information, the fact remains – Nigeria is corrupt., Mr Cameroon hasn’t said anything untrue.
buzu-k
May 12, 2016 at 1:37 PM
bros make una leave dat thing jori naija is corrupt hol-hah!…u knw truth is vry bitter.
sharon stone
May 12, 2016 at 2:40 PM
truth dey say is bitter.
Maryf
May 12, 2016 at 3:05 PM
The Cameron is a hypocrite, he’s a pot calling kettle black. Nonsense
D Hunter
May 12, 2016 at 3:24 PM
For those of you who think Mr. Cameron was blabbling, come out and prove him wrong, Gbam!
I take a stroll…
Grace
May 12, 2016 at 9:51 PM
Yes Nigeria is fantastically corrupt. They know well how t play a good corruption role. Is inborn. Not only govt the individuals are all corrupt. And Nigeria will not come out from this corruption because is part of the culture.
John Emeka
May 14, 2016 at 6:39 PM
D country re still d ones who accomodate d so called corrupt country and yet here he z opening his mouth wide..