President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has departed the United Kingdom for Paris, France, where he is expected to attend an undisclosed \u201cimportant engagement\u201d after spending over a week in the UK. The trip, coming in the midst of his two-week private leave, has sparked fresh debates about the Nigerian leader\u2019s movements while on vacation.<\/p>\n
This development was disclosed by Mr. Ibrahim Kabir Masari, the Senior Special Assistant on Political and other matters to the president, who took to his X account (formerly Twitter) on Friday to announce the president\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n
“Today, I had the honor of visiting President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR at his private residence in the United Kingdom, where we engaged in productive discussions. We then departed for Paris, France, for another important engagement,” Masari said in his post. While the details of this engagement remain vague, the announcement has drawn significant attention due to the context of the president\u2019s ongoing leave.<\/p>\n
The trip to France has not been without its share of criticism, as opposition figures and some public commentators have questioned the necessity of such travels while many pressing issues continue to unfold in Nigeria, particularly in the areas of economic hardship and insecurity. However, Tinubu\u2019s team has been quick to defend his actions.<\/p>\n
Mr. Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, was among those who responded to these criticisms, insisting that the president has the right to spend his private time wherever he chooses. Taking to X, Onanuga stated that Tinubu\u2019s travel is a personal matter, and he is free to go anywhere during his leave.<\/p>\n
“President Tinubu is on leave for two weeks. He is not restricted to the UK. It is his private time. He can go anywhere he so desires. He is still observing his leave,” Onanuga wrote.<\/p>\n
Onanuga’s defense comes amidst concerns that President Tinubu\u2019s international engagements and vacations may create a perception that he is detached from Nigeria\u2019s urgent needs. Yet, his aides have maintained that even while on leave, Tinubu remains fully informed about developments back home and is in constant communication with key government officials.<\/p>\n
This period of rest and travel has followed a strenuous first few months in office for President Tinubu, which included the controversial removal of fuel subsidies, efforts to stabilize the Naira, and ongoing security challenges. Supporters argue that after the high-intensity start to his presidency, it is reasonable for the Nigerian leader to take some time off to recuperate and engage in personal or diplomatic matters abroad.<\/p>\n
As Tinubu\u2019s leave continues, political analysts will be watching closely to see if further trips or meetings, like the one in Paris, signal upcoming policy initiatives or reinforce his administration\u2019s focus on international relations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has departed the United Kingdom for Paris, France, where he is expected to attend an undisclosed \u201cimportant engagement\u201d after spending over a week in the UK. The trip, coming in the midst of his two-week private leave, has sparked fresh debates about the Nigerian leader\u2019s movements while on vacation. This development […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51775"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51776,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51775\/revisions\/51776"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}