Buhari: Nigeria Does not Need An Apology from Cameron

Tobi Soniyi in Abuja.

President Muhammadu Buhari has said that he does  not want an apology from UK Prime Minister David Cameron for describing Nigeria as a “fantastically corrupt” country.

Reports monitored on BBC quoted Buhari as saying, “No. I am not going to demand any apology from anybody. What I am demanding is the return of assets.”

Cameron was caught on camera on Tuesday describing Nigeria and Afghanistan as being amongst the most corrupt countries in the world.

He was speaking  to the British Queen, Elizabeth II, ahead of the anti-corruption summit taking place in London.

The BBC quoted Buhari as  saying instead of an apology that he would want the repatriation of assets stashed in the UK by corrupt Nigerians.

“What would I do with an apology? I need something tangible,” he said.

The presidency had last night said that Cameron’s statement was‎, not reflective of the good work that President Muhammadu Buhari was doing.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu in a statement said: “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 as a keynote speaker at the the pre-summit conference.”