- Alonge: Tinubu has right to go on working vacation
By Obinna Uballa
President Bola Tinubu’s latest foreign trip has sparked a wave of criticisms from opposition figures, civil society actors, and political commentators, who accuse him of neglecting domestic crises while spending significant time abroad.
Tinubu departed Nigeria on Thursday for a 10-day working vacation in France and the United Kingdom, according to a statement from the Presidency. The trip, described as part of his 2025 annual leave, comes barely six days after his return from a 15-day engagement overseas.
The announcement has triggered sharp reactions amid worsening economic hardship, rising insecurity, and public outrage over governance lapses.
Former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, led the criticism, faulting Tinubu for what he termed an “increasing pattern of absentee leadership.”
“It does look like Mr. President is running away from Nigeria at every slight opportunity,” Obi said in a Friday statement. “At a time when Nigerians need leadership, empathy and presence, a President should not choose foreign holidays. True leadership is about sacrifice.”
The former Anambra governor noted that 79% of Nigerians, about 180 million people, are grappling with food insecurity, while the country ranks among the least livable globally and the worst place to give birth.
He condemned the President’s failure to visit victims of recent tragedies, including the killing of over 50 people in attacks on a mosque and villages in Katsina State and a boat mishap in Niger State that claimed about 60 lives.
“What would it have taken the president to take a less than 30-minute trip to Niger State from Abuja in his jet? No holiday is more important than the lives of Nigerians,” Obi said.
The latest trip reportedly marks Tinubu’s 10th visit to France since assuming office on May 29, 2023, making the European nation his most frequent destination for official and private engagements.
Reports indicate the President spent at least 59 days across eight trips to France by April 2025, including an 18-day working visit in April, a two-week UK vacation in October 2024 that extended into France, and multiple other stays linked to international summits and private engagements.
Critics question the cost and necessity of these trips, citing Nigeria’s deepening fiscal crisis and collapsing public health infrastructure.
Timothy Osadolor, Deputy National Youth Leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), accused Tinubu of wasting taxpayers’ money on “unnecessary medical tourism.”
“I think the president’s frequent trips are highly insensitive, and they show a lack of faith in our national health care system because the reason he is travelling is for medical tourism,” Osadolor said. “Imagine the billions of naira spent on estacodes and travel expenses for him, his caregivers, and hangers-on. Meanwhile, what is the state of Aso Rock Clinic, where billions are budgeted annually?”
He urged Tinubu to abandon any plans for re-election, insisting the government has failed to deliver affordable healthcare and security.
“This government should not only apologise to Nigerians for its insensitivity and incapacities, but it should at best admit it lacks the requisite capacity to govern,” Osadolor added.
Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) spokesperson, Mark Adebayo, described the President’s trips as “needless and self-serving.”
“The fundamental thing is that the president never contested to govern Nigeria in the interest of Nigeria. He just said it was his lifetime ambition,” Adebayo told The PUNCH. “Nobody should expect him to govern. He can only rule, and that is why he is wasting Nigeria’s resources on needless foreign trips.”
Adebayo also faulted Tinubu for failing to transmit power to Vice President Kashim Shettima as required by law.
“His frequent trips abroad show his soul is abroad; only his body is here. He left without transmitting a letter to the National Assembly. That tells you everything,” he said.
Labour Party’s National Legal Adviser, Kehinde Edun, said Tinubu has failed to demonstrate the qualities of a “father of the nation,” while activist Omoyele Sowore alleged that the trips were health-related.
“As predicted yesterday on my Facebook page, someone, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is on his way to a foreign hospital in France and the UK,” Sowore wrote on X.
Former Kaduna Central senator, Shehu Sani, mocked the description of the trip as a “working vacation.”
“I understand the word ‘working’. I understand the word ‘vacation’. The sentence ‘working vacation’ is something else,” Sani wrote on his verified social
media handle.
However, some civil society members said it is legitimate for the president as a human being to embark on working leave, stressing that whatever he does with his working leave is immaterial.
Alonge Julius of the Civil society group said: ” The president has a right to go on working leave to anywhere he chooses to go. Indeed, whatever he does with his working leave is immaterial. He is a human being.”
