PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu’s whereabouts again became a subject of intense public speculation a few days ago, just before he returned from his 20th international trip since he assumed office. The President travelled to the Netherlands to visit Prime Minister Mark Rutte on April 23. He also held separate meetings with King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima before journeying to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to attend the Special Meeting of the World Economic Forum held between April 28 and 29.

Six days after the event, he had not returned and Nigerians started asking questions, which were met with silence by the Presidency until May 8 when it revealed that Tinubu would be returning from Europe the next day.

While Tinubu was missing and said to have visited the UK and France after Saudi Arabia, Vice-President Kashim Shettima was preparing for a trip to represent the President at the US-Africa Business Summit hosted by the Corporate Council on Africa. But for the presidential jet billed to ferry Shettima that developed a fault and the trip cancelled, both leaders would have been out of the country simultaneously.

On his first trip in office to France last June to attend ‘A New Global Financing Pact’ summit hosted by President Emmanuel Macron, Tinubu left for London for a private visit not initially listed in his official itinerary.


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Before then, Tinubu had visited Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Benin, India, the UAE, the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Germany in official capacity.

Tinubu again left for a “private visit” to France in January. The details were shrouded in secrecy and set off health rumours until his return after two weeks.

This latest episode however suggests that Tinubu is toeing the path of his predecessor. Muhammadu Buhari (2015-2023) spent 225 days on medical trips with little accounting to the public.


Nigerians deserve to know exactly where their President is at any given time since that office is a public trust and the highest institution of the state. It is a national embarrassment that a situation where the President and Vice-President are out of the country together could even be contemplated.

It is insensitive and morally empty to argue that the President can govern from anywhere, which is often touted by his aides and intemperate supporters. It underscores the disdain with which Nigerians are held by their leaders.


Tinubu cannot afford to be junketing the world when Nigerians are confronted with an unprecedented cost of living crisis, insecurity, huge unemployment, and energy shortages.

President Cyril Ramaphosa cancelled his trip to the WEF in Davos, Switzerland in January 2023 due to the energy crisis in South Africa.

The President owes it a duty to disclose the full state of his health to end all sorts of speculations whenever he has to travel. After all, he is human and subject to human frailties. President Joe Biden disclosed to Americans that he would undergo a colonoscopy under anaesthesia in November 2021 and transferred power to Vice-President Kamala Harris for the period.

The White House said the process was followed in 2002 and 2007 when the then-President George Bush underwent the same medical procedure.

That the Presidency keeps secrets about the President’s whereabouts and health status is contemptuous of Nigerians.


The argument that the President’s trips are largely to seek foreign investments can only be taken on the surface since serious, solid, long-term business investments are made in clement environments where security, stability, energy, and the rule of law are guaranteed.

Therefore, Tinubu should sit down and put things right to attract local and foreign investments to reset the economy.

Unfortunately, some governors have taken a cue from the President, frittering away resources on foreign trips.

Tinubu and the governors should stop the charade.

https://punchng.com/tinubus-disappearing-acts/

Whose kind acts, na acts of aposeteli.

Ajala the traveler