COMPARISON between public conduct elsewhere and what obtains in Nigeria can sometimes be awkward, especially because it can be mistaken to suggest that we can’t be up to any good. That’s not only incorrect, such moral equivalence is unfair to millions of Nigerians who are doing their damn best in their quiet spaces.
But two stories last week reported within twenty-four hours of each other were too striking to escape comparison. The first was a story about Commodore Nick Cooke-Priest, captain of HMS Queen Elizabeth, the iconic aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy.
Cooke-Priest was removed from his command for an offence that you’ll have to read the story twice to believe, if you’re – well – a Nigerian. The poor captain who was appointed to his prestigious job in October had formed the habit of using his official car for personal trips.
The frequency or nature of the personal trips was not disclosed; but if he were a Nigerian officer, for example, the trips might have…
