The Proconsul goes to London, by Obi Nwakanma

2026-03-29 - 00:05

I had made this observation more than once, about a practice which many Nigerians themselves have noted as odd and inexplicable: why is it that on the eve of every election, Nigerian presidential aspirants would be trucked to London, precisely to Chatham House, to go to talk and be interviewed, and debate, and outline what would be their domestic policies, should they be elected. What free, self-respecting, and sovereign nation does this? Conduct its most important domestic political debates and discussion in the capital of a foreign nation? Just to be clear, no other African, Caribbean, or Asian country does this. Just Nigeria and its magnificently foolish, colonized “elite.” It began with Buhari. It continued in the last election cycle, and it still does not make sense to Nigerians. What are Nigerian presidential candidates looking for at Chatham House? What is Chatham House to Nigeria, and to Nigerians? Even if the idea is to establish the Foreign Policy objectives of a political party and its aspirants, why do that in the capital of a foreign, even adversarial nation? It is doubly suspicious and insulting, given the colonial history of Great Britian. In fact, the oddity is so writ large against that sneaky fact that Nigeria has its own National Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), where many a foreign policy debate ought to have been conducted, and where it was designed that Nigeria’s foreign policy be shaped, and categorized. The NIIA is the Nigerian equivalent of Chatham House. But no policy debate has ever been conducted at what ought to be the sanctuaries of that venerable institute for Nigeria’s Presidential aspirants. It always has to be Chatham House. There is also the Nigerian Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), in Kuru, Jos – a much misdirected center, which ought to telegraph, for a Nigerian audience, during a presidential debate, the foreign and domestic policies of our political parties, and our presidential aspirants. I mean, if you are looking for a symbolic place, a fitting place, and an appropriate place to conduct such a debate relevant to Nigerians, NIPSS should provide such a place. It is sovereign ground. But not on our lives! These ignorant politicians, who probably have very little use of the meaning of history, have to take our Nigerian affairs, mostly since the arrival of the folks of the APC to be approved and validated in London by the eminences of England. I still have this harrowing, mental picture of Muhammadu Buhari taken on a tour of England to kiss the rings of the empire, whose “mandate” and authority they sought to fight and upstage the Goodluck Jonathan administration. They made a deal clearly, and have since held Nigeria and its APC leadership at the scrotum, or by their udder, and are clearly milking them ferociously for what it is worth. Nigerians should understand that any political leadership that neglects, disfigures, and alienates – that in short, has no respect or use for its own national institutions established by a nation’s laws to serve it -is a colonial and dangerous affiliation. Nigerians now talk of “state capture”, and do so almost too glibly. None of our intellectuals and home-grown analysts have discerned as clearly as possible, the nature of Nigeria’s capture and the structure of its sovereign captivity. Of all the political organizations that have been organized in Nigeria, the most dangerous to the sovereign health of the nation called Nigeria and the people of Nigeria is the Mafia organization called the All Peoples Congress (APC). It has turned Nigeria from a sovereign nation state, in which the rule of law is established under a republic, with a National Parliament, to a Cartel state. Let me describe to Nigerians what a Cartel State means, and what it does. A Cartel State is a system of mafia-like control of state administration, in which a highly organized cartel of private but very connected interests, mainly with criminal backgrounds, take over state institutions, which they radically degrade, and then dismantle, and then render obsolete and ineffective. These institutions no longer operate to serve, govern, or articulate the national vision of a state system, or the interest or welfare of its population, but are designed to control, through a network of highly organized private interests, the resources of a nation, its distributive powers, and its coercive and regulatory authority to maintain an illicit hold on the state. Think, for a minute, about the Mexican state of Sinaloa. You get the picture. In the case of resource rich Nigeria, those who currently control this cartel system have destroyed the civil service – the very bastion and control institution of the executive branch and of the national establishment. If you destroy the Civil Service you destroy the state. It is actually as simple as that. But even worse is that this cartel “elite” has penetrate, seized and corrupted the National Judiciary, which is now mostly, a lapdog institution. The Cartel has absolute control of the National Assembly, which cannot, in spite of the constitutional mandate that empowers them to do so, scrutinize the president and assign legitimacy to every treaty signed on behalf of Nigeria. The truth, dear Nigerians, is that we no longer own a country. Nigeria is now a shell corporation by which a criminal gang of political “elites” conduct their own businesses, launder their massively accumulated but illegal cash, conduct narco- trade, sell and buy arms, conduct human trafficking, control the human organ trade, control the oil cartel, smuggle and sell gold, bauxite, and the abundant rare earth deposits in Nigeria, while they impoverish Nigerians, miseducate them, and render them incapable of civic action in response to their condition. They use the National Security apparati to quarantine Nigerians, prevent them from national interaction and exchange, and to create and sustain a powerful process of citizens alienation that makes this cartel formation even more powerful. For where a nation no longer functions – where citizens are docile and inert – an oligarchy takes hold, and a massive peasantification project becomes the means by which such an oligarchy must maintain its power. That is why the key attribute of APC’s social program is the radical “almajirinization” of Nigerians. APC wishes to turn 90% of Nigerians into “Almajiris” – paupers, beggars, and those who shall be dependent wholly on state charity. That is the “Ewa” and “Agbado” program of the Tinubu Cartel. And then last week, or so ago, Tinubu went to London. What that state visit should tell Nigerians is that the “capture” of Nigeria is not just simply a local elite situation. It is a powerplay against the African continent and it has a very dangerous international dimension. I started this essay by describing the predilection of the Nigerian political charlatans, who have to seek legitimacy from London in order to govern. They go to Chatham House. They go, before they contest, to kiss the ring of the British establishment. They are under the control of empire. That control is both spiritual, economic, and political. This group of the political charlatan and circus drivers should never be described as an “elite,” because an “elite” is sovereign and grounded on the practical and symbolic interests of a nation. A national elite’s source of power is indigenous rather than external. It protects that source and desires to grow its power to attain global significance and authority. That was the dream of the founding elite of this nation, who led the anti-colonial Nationalist struggles. They will today, stir in their graves at what Nigeria has become, most especially under the APC and its Cartel leaders: a new colonial outpost. Nigeria is no longer a sovereign state. The re-colonization of Nigeria under Tinubu’s watch is an on-going project. It has not yet dawned on Nigerians of this generation what colonialism looked, and felt like. But Tinubu went to London, clearly, as Britain’s imperial Proconsul in Nigeria. He went with his retinue of circus animals, including the president of the senate, the Speaker of the HOR, Ministers of government, but pay attention, not a single Permanent Secretary – those who by the establishment Act are keepers of the institutional and organic memory of state administration. They no longer matter. Yes, the Brits, led by bonny King Charles, and his dowager Queen Camilla, brought out the gilded carriage and bunioned horses, and drew Tinubu and his circus through to Buckingham. They threw in a royal banquet to boot, in which the King of England, without a hint of irony said in Warri pidgin, “Naija no de carry last!” and got the appropriate guffaw and applause. Tinubu was even was made to walk, in shaky limbs, the traditional length to 10 Downing, to be received by the Prime Minister. It was all a circus as beautiful and as deadly as the English could muster. All the ironies were subtle. Now, what was not ironical was the agreements reached, which Tinubu signed, all in favor of the United Kingdom: one, Nigeria agreed to receive, at no cost to England, all illegal migrants, mostly criminals, deported to it by Great Britian, and secondly, the icing on the cake: the contract to rebuild the serially rebuilt Apapa and Tin Can Ports all in Lagos, to the tune of Seven hundred forty-six million pounds. Let us just simply say, in all the agreements which Tinubu signed, Nigeria was royally screwed. In the Port agreement for instance, Nigeria will borrow the money from Britian. Britian will supply all the goods and secure at least 35% of the contract. This is why Nigerian politicians go to Chatham House: because, Britian is still somehow, holding Nigeria to colonial ransom. Did you, dear reader of the Orbit, hear me when I say, at Buckingham Palace, Nigeria was royally F—d. Why? Because Tinubu is proconsul, not the president of Nigeria. Chew on that.