TD I am tired of being careful about this. Nigeria is not Cameroon, Paris is not Aso Rock, and Bola Tinubu is not Paul Biya.
You cannot disappear into Europe for weeks, call it a “working vacation,” govern more than 230 million people by telephone and expect Nigerians to behave as though this is normal.
The Presidency says Tinubu left Nigeria on 30 August, spent a week in London, moved on to Paris and has continued “directing the affairs of the nation” from abroad. His stay was then extended. Enough!
Nigeria has a Vice-President. Nigeria has a Constitution. Nigeria has institutions.
And Tinubu swore an oath to defend that Constitution.
So Nigerians are entitled to ask what constitutional arrangements were made during this prolonged absence and exactly how Section 145 has been dealt with.
But there is an even bigger question now:
Why does the president of Nigeria keep refusing to go to the United Nations General Assembly in New York?
Tinubu attended UNGA in 2023. He did not attend in 2024. He did not attend in 2025. And now he is not attending in 2026.
That makes three consecutive UN General Assemblies at which Vice-President Kashim Shettima has represented Nigeria instead.
This year makes the questions even louder because Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN had previously said Tinubu had given his word that he would attend.
Instead, Tinubu remained in Europe and Shettima went to New York.
So stop insulting Nigerians by pretending that asking why is somehow unreasonable.
I am asking: Why will Bola Tinubu not go to New York?
And while Nigerians ask that question, there is an American federal court case involving FBI and DEA records concerning Tinubu.
That is not gossip. That is not something invented on Nigerian social media.
That litigation exists in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia before Judge Beryl Howell.
The court’s 2025 opinion concerned FOIA requests for FBI and DEA investigative records relating to an early-1990s Chicago heroin-trafficking and money-laundering investigation.
The court ordered the FBI and DEA to search for and process responsive non-exempt records.
And Tinubu’s lawyers have subsequently sought to prevent disclosure of some of those records on privacy grounds.
Let me also be precise because facts matter: The current Washington litigation is a FOIA disclosure case.
It is not a criminal prosecution of Tinubu, and no judgment in that case has convicted him of drug trafficking. The Presidency itself stresses that distinction.
Fine. Then release whatever the law says should be released and let the documents speak for themselves.
But Nigerians have every right to connect the political questions in front of them and demand answers:
- Why does our President repeatedly avoid America’s biggest annual gathering of world leaders?
- Why is he spending this extended period in Europe?
- Why is there continuing litigation over American law-enforcement records connected with investigations from the 1990s?
- And there is another question Nigerians are entitled to ask without indulging in rumours:
- What is the state of the President’s health?
I am not going to diagnose Tinubu from photographs or internet videos. Nobody outside his medical team can responsibly do that.
But when the President of 230 million people spends extended periods abroad, repeatedly delegates major international engagements and provides the public with little information about the reasons for those absences, Nigerians are perfectly entitled to demand transparency.
If his health is good, tell Nigerians.
If there is a medical problem materially affecting his ability to perform his duties, Nigerians deserve appropriate disclosure.
The Presidency belongs to the Nigerian people. It is not a private family business.
And if Tinubu no longer wants to spend his time in Nigeria doing the extraordinarily demanding job he fought so hard to obtain, there is a perfectly constitutional solution: Resign!
Nobody forced him to become President. Nobody is forcing him to remain President.
If the burden of governing Nigeria is too great, resign and allow the constitutional process to take its course.
What I will not accept is the gradual transformation of Nigeria into a country governed from European hotels, residences and meeting rooms while Nigerians at home are told that everything is perfectly normal. It isn’t.
And Tinubu should remember something else.
Sri Lanka. Bangladesh. Nepal. Different countries. Different circumstances. Different political histories.
But one lesson runs through political history everywhere:
Never confuse the patience of the people with weakness.
If Tinubu wants dissent, he is going to get dissent.
If he wants Nigerians asking questions, we will ask them.
If he wants Nigerians challenging his government, they will challenge it.
If he wants a political fight over the Constitution, accountability and the integrity of the 2027 election, then Nigerians have every democratic right to give him that fight.
And I mean a political, constitutional and peaceful democratic fight.
In the courts. In the newspapers. Online. Through civil society. Through peaceful demonstrations. And finally at the ballot box.
Do not rig 2027. Do not intimidate Nigerians. Do not misuse the security services.
Do not assume another four years belong to you. Do not mistake presidential power for ownership of Nigeria.
Because the anger in Nigeria is real. People are struggling. People are tired. People are watching.
And every additional display of arrogance adds another log to the fire.
Tinubu should be trying to lower the political temperature of Nigeria, not raising it.
He should be answering questions, not creating new ones.
And he should be governing from Nigeria, accountable to Nigerians.
Come home. Face the Nigerian people. Explain the prolonged European stay. Explain the repeated UNGA absences.
Let the American courts determine what FBI and DEA material must lawfully be disclosed.
Give Nigerians proper transparency about your capacity to perform the office.
Respect the Constitution. Guarantee that the 2027 election will be free and credible.
And if you cannot or will not do those things: Resign!
Nigeria is bigger than Bola Tinubu.
Nigeria is bigger than APC.
Nigeria is bigger than Aso Rock.
And Nigeria certainly does not belong to one man.
You wanted the Presidency.
Now do the job — from Nigeria, under the Constitution, accountable to the Nigerian people — or step aside.
