Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, has called on President Bola Tinubu to cut short his trip to France and return to Nigeria immediately to confront the escalating wave of insecurity across the country.
Obi made the appeal on Wednesday in a statement shared via his official X (formerly Twitter) handle, citing ongoing communal violence, killings, and rising insecurity in various parts of Nigeria.
His comments come days after the Presidency dismissed claims that Tinubu’s visit abroad was health-related. According to the Special Adviser to the President on Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala, the president’s visit to France was a “working retreat.”
Bwala made the clarification during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today, responding to assertions by activist Omoyele Sowore that the trip was for medical attention.
Although presidential aide Bayo Onanuga stated that Tinubu, who departed Nigeria on April 2, is expected back within two weeks, Obi insisted the president’s absence is worsening the nation’s already dire security crisis.
In his statement, Obi declared, “I am compelled at this time in our lives as a nation to call on our retreating President’s attention to the security challenges at home, which entails that he immediately suspend his ongoing retreat in a foreign land and come home to address the overwhelming security situation across the country.
“In the 2 weeks you have been away, over 150 Nigerians have lost their lives to insecurity across Nigeria, especially in Plateau and Zamfara states. The repeated pipeline explosions in the Niger Delta, further reflect a nation in distress.
“In the North East, Borno State leaders are bemoaning the return of insurgency, with troops and civilians being killed randomly. In the Southeast, the story is the same: killings and abductions. Amid all these, the CEO of the troubled company called Nigeria, is retreating to a faraway land in France from the company’s headquarters.
“I, therefore, like to urge Mr President to quickly suspend whatever he is doing in France and rush home to take responsibility by addressing these disturbing issues. That is the new Nigeria that the nation seeks.”
