By Sa’adiyyah Adebisi Hassan
Only in a country where morality has died can a sitting president deploy the full machinery of state to beg for a man convicted of organ trafficking.
Just imagine a “high-level delegation” sent to London, not to attract investors, not to discuss security cooperation, not to repatriate stolen assets, not to negotiate technology transfer but to plead for a man sentenced for attempting to harvest a poor man’s kidney for his child.
What a national disgrace.
This is not diplomacy, this is institutional prostitution of state honor.
A president of a serious nation does not interfere in criminal convictions abroad, especially when the case has been tried in a transparent, independent judicial system like the UK’s. This is not a political persecution case. It’s not a miscarriage of justice. It’s human trafficking, one of the most despicable crimes against human dignity.
And yet, here we are deploying the foreign minister and attorney general, the very custodians of Nigeria’s external image and legal integrity, to beg.
Beg for what, exactly?
For leniency?
For sympathy?
For the world to see that in Nigeria, the elite can do no wrong?
If this same government ever showed half this energy for ordinary Nigerians languishing in foreign prisons those falsely accused, those trapped in immigration nightmares, those abused and tortured without trial perhaps then we could call this “humanitarian diplomacy.”
But no this government only recognizes the humanity of the powerful.
Where was the high-level delegation when Nigerian students were stranded in Sudan under bomb fire?
Where was this compassion when Nigerians were being deported from the UAE, starved in Libyan detention centers, executed in Saudi Arabia, or trafficked in Asia?
Not a whisper. Not a single flight. Not a single plea.
But for one corrupt politician convicted in open court we mobilize the cabinet, issue communiqués, and burn national dignity in public.
Presidents are supposed to get involved in cases that define a nation’s conscience and protect its people.
Cases that demand moral leadership..
Negotiating the release of citizens held hostage abroad.
Seeking clemency for those unjustly imprisoned.
Defending whistleblowers, journalists, or human rights activists.
Advocating for global reforms that protect vulnerable migrants.
Not this. Not a convicted senator who represents everything wrong with Nigeria’s political elite.
What message does this send to the world? That Nigeria’s government sympathizes more with the oppressor than the oppressed? That if you steal, loot, or traffic, you’ll be defended but if you’re poor, your blood is cheap?
This is the kind of diplomatic idiocy that erodes respect for Nigeria globally.
Imagine the UK’s reaction: senior officials of a country that can’t even keep its lights on, coming to plead for a convicted criminal, as if it were a state emergency.
You don’t send a delegation to defend crime you send it to defend justice, truth, and citizens’ rights.
This is what happens when the moral compass of a government points straight to the pockets of the powerful.
Nigeria deserves leaders who understand that the presidency is not a cover for political errand boys.
If you must send a delegation abroad, let it be for Nigeria’s dignity not for its disgrace.
Follow us on all social media platforms @dailyquery for news and analyses around the globe.
