Abuja, Nigeria
The Presidency says President Bola Tinubu will return to Nigeria today from his work visit to France.
Bayo Onanuga, presidential spokesperson, disclosed this in a post on his X handle on Monday.
On April 2, the president left Nigeria for Paris, France, on a short work visit, according to the presidency.
They said Tinubu used the retreat to review the progress of ongoing reforms and engage in strategic planning ahead of his administration’s second anniversary.
The trip was faulted by key opposition leaders in the country.
Atiku Abubakar, former vice president and 2023 presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), had asked President Bola Tinubu to end his trip to France and address the spate of insecurity in Nigeria.
Atiku questioned Tinubu’s continued stay in the European country despite the spate of killings across Nigeria.
“While Tinubu dines under chandeliers in the land of good governance, the country he governs is spiralling into chaos. Plateau has turned into a killing field — over 100 lives lost in relentless attacks,” his spokesman, Paul Ibe, said in a statement on April 17.
Also, Peter Obi, the 2023 former presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general elections, urged Tinubu to suspend his France trip and urgently return to Nigeria to address the deteriorating security situation, particularly in Plateau and Benue states.
Obi said the primary duty of any government is to secure the lives and property of its citizens, and one wondered why the type of retreat was going on in another country where peace had been secured by their leaders, “while blood continues to flow in our country”.
“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 entail 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 two weeks you have been away, over 150 Nigerians have lost their lives to insecurity across Nigeria, especially in Plateau and Zamfara states.
“I therefore 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 the nation seeks,” he said.
But the Presidency noted that Tinubu had maintained constant communication with key government officials, overseeing critical national matters, including directives to security chiefs to address emerging threats in some parts of the country.
