The British
PM was caught on camera telling the Queen on Tuesday, May 10, that some
“fantastically corrupt” leaders including Nigeria
and Afghanistan ,
were due to attend his anti-corruption summit.
“We had a
very successful cabinet meeting this morning, talking about our anti-corruption
summit,” Mr Cameron said when the Queen approached.
“We have
got the Nigerians – actually we have got some leaders of some fantastically
corrupt countries coming to Britain .”
Mr Cameron
went on: “Nigeria and Afghanistan –
possibly two of the most corrupt countries in the world.” The Queen did not
respond to Cameron’s comment but the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby
said: “But this particular president is actually not corrupt.”
It was not
clear whether Mr Cameron realised he was being filmed at the Buckingham Palace
event. Number 10 declined to comment directly on the premier’s conversations
with the Queen but pointed out that the leaders of both countries had
acknowledged the scale of the problem they faced.
According
to Reuters, a bystander joked to Mr Cameron: “They are coming at their own
expense one assumes?”
“Everything
has to be open,” the prime minister replied.
Mr
Cameron’s gaffe is not the first time he has been caught on film. In 2014, he
was filmed telling New York ’s mayor that the
Queen had “purred down the line” after he had called her to say Scotland had
rejected independence.
“Self-proclaimed
‘People’s President’ Muhammadu Buhari began a war on corruption after taking
power last year, but critics allege it is a political witch-hunt.
“The
Government is giving nearly £250million in the coming year to oil-rich Nigeria , whose
president sends his daughter Hanan to a N7.5 million-a-year English school,”
Daily Mail wrote. The Daily Mail went to analyze how in April the opposition
PDP party unearthed a ticket stub showing Hanan, 16, had flown first-class from
London to Nigeria , despite her father’s ban
on officials using premium travel. And a Nigerian newspaper claimed Mr Buhari
has spent £150,000 on educating his daughter Zahra, a Surrey University
student.
According
to the Daily Mail, President Buhari is reported to have failed to give a full
account of his worth, but even his partial admission included more than
£1million in the bank, five houses and two plots of land. In the light of these
detracting statements, it becomes ironical to know that only a few weeks back,
the United Kingdom had
praised Nigeria ’s
President Muhammadu Buhari over his strong determination to end corruption in
the country. According to NAN, this was made known by Nick Hurd, the UK minister for international development, on
Sunday, April 17, in Abuja .
President
Muhammadu Buhari has departed for London
to participate in the international anti-corruption summit.
As an
internationally recognized leader in the global fight against corruption,
Buhari will play a prominent part in the summit. The president left the country
after he declared open the Katsina state Economic and Investment Summit 2016.
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