Nigeria, Jan. 31 -- A few days ago, as President Tinubu was making news for all the wrong reasons in Ankara, on the heels of his state visit to the Republic of Turkey, I found myself less than five hours away from him. But since dis-life-no-balance, there was no guard of honor mounted on my behalf, no entourage, and no official delegation. I traveled solo, relying on Google Maps and Google Translate to find my way around. Yet it was not all bad. While controversy, or perhaps accident, was courting power, I was quietly immersing myself in ancient history, walking through the ruins and remnants of empires in Istanbul, a city that has witnessed the rise and collapse of civilizations far more formidable than any modern state.

My day began at...