The Chatham House traffic

• Published date: 24 January 2023
• Publication title: Nigeria - The Nation

The final details of Nigeria's Independence Constitution were hammered out during 1957-1959 in the hallowed halls of Chatham House, London, in negotiations between Nigeria's accredited political leaders and the British colonial authorities.

More than six decades later, the major candidates in Nigeria's presidential election scheduled for February 25 have been making a pilgrimage to Chatham House. It is as if the path to the Presidency and its awesome powers runs through that storied edifice.

Nothing is being negotiated this time; no recondite constitutional principles are being discussed. No recalcitrant delegates have to be appeased, cajoled or bullied into line with the velvet-gloved imperial fist. It's just the natives on their own, one after another, each making a pitch for the top job before the attentive international audience, and advertising to the folks back home his well-choreographed arrival on the global stage.

First to hit the trail was the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who created a stir by leaving it to his associates to answer the questions that followed his prepared speech. This novel expedient, not the main presentation, has been the talking point.

Was it a calculated ploy, as some said, to cover up a rumoured disability, or a way of showing that the Tinubu Campaign was anchored not on an individual but on a team of knowledgeable, strategists?

Hard on Tinubu's heels to Chatham House was the Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi, the billionaire entrepreneur representing working people. Leadership, he emphasized, is the touchstone of national greatness. Just pick the right leader, and everything will be all right.

His mentor, former President Obasanjo who knows a great deal about the subject apparently hasn't told him that isn't the whole truth. Letters acknowledging messages of condolence on the death of his wife Stella did not make it out of his office for one full month after he had signed them.

On directing that a Note Verbale be issued to facilitate my re-entry to the United States before I became a resident, he made a point of urging me to follow up with the Ministry in Abuja to ensure that prompt action followed.

I am also reminded of a remark credited to U.S. President Harry Truman, on the election of Dwight Eisenhower, the former Supreme Allied Commander in World War 11 to succeed him in The White House.

'He'll sit here, and he'll say, 'Do this! Do that!' And nothing will happen. Poor Ike-it won't be a bit like the Army...