Only three Nigerian leaders have been invited by the British monarch for state visits to Buckingham Palace. They are General Yakubu Gowon, GCFR (90) and his wife, Victoria Gowon (78) (June12–15, 1973), the late President Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari, GCFR (March 17–20, 1981) and General Ibrahim Babangida, GCFR (83) and his wife, Maryam (May 9–12, 1989).
In fact, Nigeria is more favoured than most African countries that have been invited for state visits to Buckingham Palace. On the other hand, the British monarch had visited Nigeria twice. Queen Elizabeth II (April 21, 1926- September 8, 2022) first visited Nigeria between January 28 and February 16, 1956. She was accompanied by her husband, the then Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Phillip (10 June 1921- 9 April 2021). She visited Kaduna, Kano, Port Harcourt, Ibadan and Lagos.
While in Nigeria, she worshipped at the Cathedral Church of Christ in Marina, Lagos, an Anglican Church founded by Reverend Samuel Ajayi Crowther (1809 – 31 December 1891) and which the Queen’s visit was under the Provost, Reverend A.W. Howells (17 September 1905- 7 March 1963). During her visit, the Queen donated a chair to the cathedral. The chair is still being preserved in the cathedral till today.
The Queen also commissioned the Nigerian painter and sculptor, Ben Enwonwu to make a bronze sculptor of herself. The next year, she posed in London as Enwonwu banged metal against his imagination in order to bring an outsized version of the Queen to life. The sculpture was completed in 1957, and in November of the same year was presented at the Royal Society of British Artists exhibition in London.
The monarch was also in Nigeria between 3 and 6 December 2003 for the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOG) meeting in Abuja. She was received by President Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR. The Queen also visited Nasarawa State.
General Gowon was actively preparing for a state visit by the British Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II before he was overthrown in a military coup by General Murtala Mohammed while in Kampala, Uganda, for the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) summit in July 1975. The present British Monarch, King Charles III (76) is a regular visitor to Nigeria.
Charles, Prince of Wales, now King of England has visited Nigeria four times, in 1990, 1999, 2006, and 2018.
For his first visit, he and his now late wife, Diana, Princess of Wales (1 July 1961- 31 August 1997) arrived in Nigeria on March 15, 1990. They left Gatwick Airport and were met at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos by the then Chief of General Staff, Admiral Augustus Akhabue Aikhomu (20 October 1939 – 17 August 2011) and Mrs. Rebecca Aikhomu. Nigeria was under military rule at the time with General Ibrahim Babangida serving as the military president.
The Prince and Princess were taken to State House Marina where General Babangida and his wife, Maryam (1 November 1948 – 27 December 2009) received them. That night, they were hosted at a state banquet after which they retired to the Royal Yacht. The Royal Yacht was docked next to the Marina in Lagos.
In 1999, the prince returned for the inauguration ceremony of President Olusegun Obasanjo (87), late South African President, Nelson Mandela was also in attendance.
In 2006, The Prince of Wales, Prince Charles arrived at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja to begin a three-day state visit. At the time, the trip was seen as a boost to the democratisation of Nigerian polity. While he was around, he also visited Kaduna and Kano.
saw Prince Charles (now King Charles III) (76) return, but this time with a new wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall. They were received by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. While he was in Abuja, he met with some traditional rulers at the residence of the British High Commissioner, Paul Arkwright.
Some of the monarchs present include the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi (the Ọjájá II) CFR (50) , Sultan of Sokoto, His Majesty Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III (68) CFR, Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II (63), Obi of Onitsha, Nnaemeka Alfred Ugochukwu Achebe (83), Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar (72) CFR, Oba of Benin, His Royal Majesty, Omo N’Oba N’Edo, Uku Akpolokpolo Oba Ewuare II (71) and Shehu of Borno, Abubakar Ibn Umar Garba Al Amin El-Kanemi (67).
During the three-day visit, the couple also met with and talked to some Nigerian youths, the Armed forces, and people in the creative sectors, specifically in arts and fashion.
Only six British Prime Ministers have visited Nigeria. They are Harold Wilson, Alec Douglas-Home, Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, David Cameron and Theresa May. Mr. Harold Wilson was in Nigeria for the Commonwealth Conference on Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, held at the Federal Palace, Hotel, Lagos, between 12 January and 14 January, 1966. Nigeria’s Prime Minister then, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (December 1912 – 15 January 1966) hosted the Conference.
Other world leaders that attended the conference were Lester Pearson of Canada, Sir Dauda Jawara of The Gambia, Dr. Hastings Banda of Malawi, Dr. Borg Olivier of Malta, Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore, Sir Albert Margai of Sierra Leone and Dr. Milton Obote of Uganda.
Others at the meeting were President Archbishop Makarios of Cyprus, acting Prime Minister of Jamaica at that time, Donald Sangster, vice-President of Zambia, Mr. Kamanga and Ceylon’s Minister of Justice, India’s Minister of Law and Social Security, Kenya’s Minister of Finance, Malaysia’s deputy Prime Minister, New Zealand’s High Commissioner in London, Pakistan’s High Commissioner in Lagos and Trinidad and Tobago’s deputy Prime Minister. Twenty-four hours after the conference ended, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa was assassinated in Lagos.
Speaking in British Parliament on January 25, 1966, Mr. Harold Wilson said: “The whole house, especially those who in any capacity had dealings in the past with Sir Abubakar, will deeply regret the tragedy which occurred in Nigeria a few days ago. I should like to add—-I am sure that I speak for all Commonwealth Prime Ministers—-a tribute to his splendid chairmanship of what could have been a very difficult Commonwealth Conference. He as much as anybody was, I believe, responsible for the satisfactory outcome of it”.
Although Tony Blair (71) in his 718-page book titled A JOURNEY, after numerous visits to Nigeria, did not make any reference to Nigeria, but the alliance between Nigeria and Britain is still strong. There are over three million Nigerians living in the United Kingdom now. This number is expected to double in the next few years. Over 2,500 Nigerians fly in and out of the United Kingdom daily.
In some parts of London like Old Kent Road, Camberwell, Thamesmead, Islington, Barking, Abbey Wood, Woolwich, Deptford and of course Peckham, if you visit those areas, it is as if you are in any part of Nigeria. In fact, the Suya spot at Camberwell, apology to Egbon Tunji Oyelana is better than the Suya spot at Obalende in Lagos. It is common knowledge now that suya spots at Peckham in London are better organised and well managed than the Suya spots in Lagos.
The UK deputy High Commissioner in Nigeria, Mr. Jonny Baxter, announced two years ago that 10 per cent of all visas granted by the British government, were to Nigerians. We are discussing Nigerian/Britain relationship on the sideline of current romance between Elysee Palace and Abuja specifically between President Bola Tinubu GCFR and Emmanuel Macron of France. Our President and our Foreign Minister, Alhaji Yusuf Tuggar, know that going by past records, France has not been Nigeria’s friend.
On February 13, 1960, France conducted its first nuclear test at Reggane, an oasis town in southern Algeria. The war for the North African country’s independence had been ongoing since 1954 and French President Charles de Gaulle was keen to show the world that France belonged at the top table of military powers.
To that end, the first French atomic bomb, named Gerboise Bleue after the blue of the tricolour flag and a small desert animal in the Sahara, was detonated in the Algerian desert. It released over four times the amount of energy as that of the U.S. bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
A few months later, as Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was in France for an official visit, a second French bomb was detonated in the Sahara.
Between 1960 and 1966, four years after Algeria gained its independence, France detonated 17 bombs in the Sahara, including four in the atmosphere near Reggane. Witnesses to the tests described them as the most55 brutal thing they’d ever seen in their lives.
Four underground explosions in the Algerian Sahara “were not totally contained or confined”, according to a French parliamentary report. Most famous of these was the Beryl incident, during which nine soldiers and a number of local Tuareg villagers were heavily contaminated by radioactivity. The impact of France’s nuclear testing programme in Algeria was immediate and has been ongoing. Following the first explosion in 1960, radioactive fallout landed in newly independent Ghana and in Nigeria.
The Nigeria Government had earlier warned France not to conduct those tests but France refused. The test affected a lot people in Kano and its surroundings. After the test, Nigeria was made to break diplomatic relations with France.
Writing on the then situation in his book titled: A RIGHT HONOURABLE GENTLEMAN—-The life and times of Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa by Mr. Trevor Clark, he wrote on page 495: “As to relations with General de Gaulle (who had been assured in the Algerian cease-fire agreement that Sahara tests might continue for some years, and had just received massive support from the French people in his referendum on self-determination for Algeria, despite the abstention of 40% of resident Algerian voters), Abubakar personally followed up Dr. Esins’s demarche. At half past seven in the morning, after returning from Bauchi, he ordered the withdrawal of the French ambassador, Mr Raymond Offroy and his embassy staff from Lagos; he barred all French aircraft and ships; and he denied them all rights of transit.
To be continued tomorrow.
Teniola is former director in the Presidency.
