Nigeria Corruption: Is Cameron Off The Hook?[SKY NEWS]

             

President Muhammadu Buhari was on a plane when David Cameron branded his country "fantastically corrupt".

When his officials eventually reacted, they were fuming.

Their president was embarrassed, they said. His spokesman claimed that David Cameron "must be looking at an old snapshot of Nigeria".

That was not what the president said exactly when I caught up with him at a Commonwealth meeting on corruption in London.

No, he didn’t want an apology, he said. Yes, Nigeria is fantastically corrupt.

Video: Cameron On Corruption

Sorry?

Yes, we heard it right - the president agreed with the words used by Mr Cameron in unguarded comments at Buckingham Palace the day before.

The Prime Minister was widely derided for his lack of tact, branding both Nigeria and Afghanistan as some of the most corrupt nations on Earth.

So is Mr Cameron off the hook? Not entirely.

Mr Buhari may not be asking for an apology but he wants something else instead.

"I’m not going to demand an apology from anybody," he told the Commonwealth meeting.

"What I am demanding is the return of assets. This is what I’m asking for.

"What would I do with an apology? I need something tangible."

The president’s officials went on to spell it out.

His special adviser, Femi Adesina, told me: "He made it clear. Assets returned - whatever is stashed in Britain and in its jurisdictions, it should be returned to Nigeria."

And others in the president’s delegation were more forthright.

Britain’s Prime Minister is in no position to preach to others on corruption, said Nigerian Senator Dino Melaye.

"The president of Nigeria is a gentleman. He is an old man and he is a very civil person.

"But it goes beyond the president as an individual. 

"Nigeria is a country. It is a sovereign nation and it cannot be insulted in the manner David Cameron insulted us."

Mr Buhari is widely praised for his efforts against corruption in Nigeria.

He also seems pretty effective at using criticism against his country and turning it to his advantage.

He wants the spotlight shone on countries like Britain who he believes are not doing enough to stop the profits of corruption being spent here.

Jose Ugaz, chairman of Transparency International, says he has a point.

"In the past decade $150bn were taken out of Nigeria and much of that money is in this part of the world," he told me.

"Many of the Nigerians involved in corrupt practices live here, bought property here and have bank accounts in English territories."

Nigeria’s previous governments do not have the same reputation for tackling corruption as Mr Buhari.

Some of their assets remain frozen in Western banks. He wants that changed.

And he will be using the controversy whipped up by Mr Cameron’s comments to help that happen.