Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has criticised President Bola Tinubu for what he described as “insensitivity” to Nigeria’s deepening economic and security crises, accusing the President of prioritising foreign trips over urgent domestic challenges.
President Tinubu is set to embark on another overseas tour, departing Abuja on Thursday, August 14, for a two-nation trip to Japan and Brazil, with a stopover in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. In Japan, he is expected to attend the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD9) in Yokohama from August 20 to 22. The Presidency has not confirmed his return date.
According to political analysts, the upcoming trip will push the President’s total travel time to over 200 days out of the 806 days he has spent in office so far.
In a strongly worded statement posted on his verified X account, Obi condemned the frequency and duration of the President’s travels, saying they reflect a lack of urgency and empathy toward the country’s deteriorating situation.
“Amid the deplorable state of our nation in all ramifications, we have a virtually indifferent President who has continued to display insensitivity to our situation,” Obi wrote. “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?”
The former Anambra State governor noted that Tinubu’s last overseas engagement — a one-week state visit to St Lucia followed by attendance at the BRICS Summit — was longer than necessary. He argued that Nigeria’s leader should cut such trips short, focusing instead on visiting crisis-hit states and engaging directly with communities facing hardship.
Obi warned that insecurity, economic hardship, and hunger have reached critical levels, placing Nigeria among the world’s most insecure nations, weakest economies, and hungriest populations. “This dire reality demands the full attention of Mr. President,” he said, urging that any foreign trip should be “necessary, brief, and productive.”
He further advised the President to embark on domestic tours to assess conditions firsthand, listen to citizens, and take decisive steps to address pressing issues.
“Our President must know that he’s not a tourist but the Chief Executive of a troubled nation,” Obi stressed. “Nigerians understand our problems cannot be solved overnight, but they want to see 100% effort and tireless commitment to solving them.”
