From Nkolo Ikembe to Bogotá: Cartel Diplomacy?

When the President of the Town Union with narcotics baggage hugs Colombia, the indigenes of Ikembe are right to ask: Is this foreign policy or a cartel reunion?

When Ikembe hugs Colombia, the world does not see any bilateral relationship. It sees two towns bound by cocaine, cartels, and corruption.

Let’s not mince words. Colombia is still trying to wash off the bloodstains of Pablo Escobar. Ikembe is still battling cartels who use our airports and seaports as cocaine highways. Put them together and you don’t get diplomacy, you get suspicion.

And then there is the elephant in the room: the President’s own narcotics-tainted past. The whispers of old drug indictments and friendships with men who made fortunes off the cocaine trail have never gone away. Against that backdrop, a sudden romance with Bogotá looks less like strategy and more like nostalgia.

Ikembe does not need this kind of optics. At a time when we should be rebuilding trust with the world, our leaders are busy shaking hands in places that remind everyone of their darkest allegations. Even if the deal is for counter-insurgency training or trade, it looks like a cartel reunion dressed up in agbada.

We have been here before. Baba Alert from Beyond courted North Korea when the West and the Commonwealth slammed its doors. Those friendships did nothing for ordinary Ikembe indigene, but they gave dictators cover. This new Colombian embrace smells the same.

If this government wants credibility, it should build alliances that lift Ikembe’s image, not drag it deeper into the mud. The people of Ikembe deserve partners who reflect our aspirations, not our scandals.

Until then, every handshake in Bogotá will look like a handshake in Medellín. And the world will be right to ask: is Ikembe fighting drugs, or just making new friends in the cartel business?

Dr. EK Gwuru writes from Nkolo Ikembe