UK STATE VISIT – THE SNUB THAT NEVER HAPPENED

By Otunba Abiodun Olufowobi (PABIEKUN)
18 March 2026

Nigerian political commentary has a fascinating rhythm. When the nation is embarrassed abroad, the analysis arrives instantly and in great abundance. But when the nation is honoured, the reaction can be remarkably restrained. One might almost think that disappointment is easier to celebrate than dignity.

Imagine for a moment that word had leaked that, for whatever reason, the United Kingdom preferred the Ghanaian president for a state visit and Nigeria had been politely overlooked. The drums and cymbals would have erupted instantly. Commentaries would have flooded the airwaves and the internet with impressive speed and even more impressive certainty. We would have been treated to a thousand explanations about why Nigeria was avoided. The usual experts—many of whom are experts mainly in hindsight—would have appeared with scholarly confidence to explain that the world had finally recognised what certain domestic critics have long insisted upon.

The familiar chorus would have followed: Nigeria had been snubbed because our president is this, or that, or the other unspeakable label so casually thrown around in our overheated political marketplace. It would have been presented as proof—final, irreversible proof—that the country had become an international embarrassment.
The diagnosis would have been loud, theatrical, and repeated with the seriousness of a medical emergency.

But today, graciously, that is not the case. Nigeria has not been avoided. Nigeria has been honoured and the man receiving the honour happens to be President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Now suddenly the analytical orchestra appears to have misplaced its instruments. The same voices that would have produced encyclopedic explanations for a snub are curiously economical with their commentary when the news happens to be positive. One is tempted to admire the discipline. Silence, after all, can sometimes be the most convenient editorial policy.

Yet a simple truth remains.
A state visit is not merely a personal compliment to the occupant of an office; it is also a diplomatic recognition of the country he represents. When Nigeria is honoured, the honour travels beyond the individual. It attaches itself, however briefly, to the nation. Whether one admires the president or opposes him politically, that reality does not change.

But ours is a political culture where applause is sometimes rationed according to party affiliation. Good news must first pass through the filter of political loyalty before it can be acknowledged as good. If it benefits one’s side, it is historic. If it benefits the other side, it is suspicious. And if it refuses to fit the preferred narrative, the safest response is strategic silence. Still, facts have a stubborn habit of existing even when they are inconvenient. Nigeria has received the honour, and the moment deserves to be acknowledged. In a healthier civic culture, such occasions would remind us that beyond the noise of politics lies the simple idea of national dignity.

Of course, Owonraibes will not let the glory pass without trying to tarnish it. The King’s honour of a state visit seems calculated to checkmate China’s advance into West Africa. Another of their wingless kite is that the UK appears determined to chip away at France’s extending grip—the so-called “Chargoury effect”— on our affairs. Many other murmurs existed but, as usual, most are more like the ramblings of a drunk in a beer parlour. Out of desperation, just before Mr. President departed for the United Kingdom, there suddenly surfaced a mythical post attributed to Donald Trump, casting aspersions on the President for travelling to receive honours in the wake of reported explosions in Maiduguri; the post, plainly a deep fake, is nonetheless a foretaste of the disinformation that will increasingly define the march toward 2027.

For what passes as opposition today is neither coherently organized nor programmatically grounded. Therefore it should not suprise anyone that the opposition finds refuge in distortion rather than debate. In that regard, the old admonition about the leper and the drum of milk is most apposite: though the leper may lack the strength to draw even a pint of milk for nourishment, he yet retains the capacity to topple an entire barrel, rendering it useless to all. So too in our political space—where constructive engagement is scarce, but the ability to contaminate discourse remains dangerously abundant.

For now, however, we must content ourselves with the curious spectacle of critics who were fully prepared to explain a snub but are strangely unavailable to explain an honour. History will record the visit either way.
The rest of us may simply take a moment to recognise that, on this occasion, Nigeria has been invited to the table—and that, at least for today, the drums of outrage have fallen remarkably quiet.

In truth, the difficulty is not that Nigeria was honoured. The difficulty is that the honour arrived when some had already prepared speeches for a disgrace. When reality refuses to cooperate with expectation, the most convenient response is silence. And so the nation moves on, mildly amused, while the drums of outrage wait patiently for their next assignment when Nigeria can be declared a disaster.

Ours is a country terribly bifurcated along political and tribal lines. I know highly educated people who would never see anything positive to report about PBAT — even if he were honoured by God Himself, resplendent in white damask and riding a white stallion. Not because they lack a sense of value, but simply because he is their political killjoy. That is how stark it has become.

For me, however, as a patriot and supporter of PBAT, I congratulate Mr. President on this historic occasion. I wish him the very best during his time in the chilly London weather and may Nigeria reap every possible diplomatic benefit from the visit. Omo olodo ide, geshin nkeshe…….

PABIEKUN (aisoaba@yahoo.com)