Former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has criticised President Bola Tinubu for embarking on another lengthy foreign trip despite Nigeria’s deepening security, economic, and social challenges.
In a post on his X account on Thursday, Obi described the President’s decision to travel to Japan and Brazil, with a stopover in Dubai, as “insensitive” to the country’s worsening condition. Tinubu is scheduled to attend the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD9) in Yokohama from August 20 to 22, but no return date has been announced.
“How can anyone explain that a President who came from Brazil recently and met with the President is returning to the same country, leaving the various degrees of challenges at home unresolved?” Obi asked.
He said it was troubling that Tinubu “has not found it worthy to visit any of our troubled states” yet “takes joy in travelling to foreign countries at the slightest invitation or excuse,” sometimes leaving “several days even before the events he’s invited to.” Obi pointed to the President’s week-long visit to St. Lucia before attending the BRICS Summit in Russia, a meeting Nigeria joined merely as an observer.
The former Anambra governor stressed that Nigeria is now “counted among the most insecure nations, the most fragile economies, and the hungriest countries in the world,” and urged the President to focus his travels within the country, visiting states and engaging with communities in distress.
“What our nation needs now is security of lives and properties, economic stability and ensuring that our people have food on their table,” Obi said.
He advised that, where foreign trips are necessary, they should be shortened to only the days required for official duties. “Our President’s planned trip of 12 days, if necessary, should have been at most a 5-day trip as the event in Japan commences on the 20th,” Obi argued.
Concluding, Obi reminded Tinubu that he is “not a tourist” but “the Chief Executive of a troubled nation,” adding that Nigeria requires a leader who works with “consciousness, strict work schedules and a strict travelling schedule.”
