President Bola Tinubu on Sunday returned to Abuja, the nation’s capital, after two-week official visits to Saint Lucia and Brazil.
This was as the African Democratic Congress (ADC) asked the president to tell Nigerians his whereabouts five days after the conference.
The president’s official aircraft, Nigeria Air Force (NAF) 1, touched down at the presidential wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, by 1.30am and was received by top government officials.
Those on the ground to welcome him included the Minister for Budget and Economic Planning, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku; his Defence counterpart, Bello Matawalle; National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu; Senator Aliyu Wamakko and Alhaji Ibrahim Masari.
The President left Nigeria on June 28, 2025 first on a maiden state visit to Saint Lucia, where he formalised diplomatic relations between the two countries and was conferred with the country’s highest national honour, Knight Commander of the Order of Saint Lucia.
Tinubu, had said on the occasion that he was humbled to receive the honour noting that the recognition symbolised a deepening of historic and cultural connections between Nigeria and Saint Lucia.
He pledged to strengthen the ties between Nigeria and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) member states.
Tinubu had also joined other world leaders in Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian capital, for the BRICS Summit, where he called for global financial reform and stronger South-South cooperation.
While in Brazil, the President gave an assurance that all bottlenecks hindering the realisation of the agricultural sector’s potential, including livestock production, will be removed to enable food sovereignty and export.
Speaking during a bilateral meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva and some members of both countries’ cabinets at the Copacabana Forte, Tinubu noted that bureaucracy contributed to delays in realising the agricultural sector’s potential.
However, despite returning to Abuja on Sunday, ADC wanted the president to tell Nigerians his whereabouts five days after the conference.
The coalition party said a president that vanished without accountability has no moral authority to demand sacrifice from citizens
In a statement Sunday, the Interim National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the party said the coalition party extended a weary welcome to Tinubu for finally returning to the country five days after the end of the 2025 BRICS Summit which held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
However, the ADC said since the summit ended on Monday, July 7th, all the other world leaders who were in attendance returned home, briefed their citizens, and got back to work.
”But our President? He only reappeared in Abuja in the early hours of Sunday, July 13—without a word, without a briefing, or any explanation as to why his return to the country had been delayed.
”A whole five days is significant in the life of a country, especially a country like ours battling with several existential challenges of insecurity and a tottering economy that has made life increasingly difficult for the majority of Nigerians.
“The President was not on holidays, he was on official duty. We therefore cannot wish those five days away and we demand a clear explanation for them.
”The ADC also notes with concern that this disdain for accountability around the President’s overseas trip has become a distinct hallmark of this administration.
”In January 2024, a so-called “private visit” to France turned into a two-week disappearance. No photos, and no statements from our President.
”In April 2024, President Tinubu travelled to the Netherlands, and then to Riyadh, for the World Economic Forum. The summit ended on April 29th, 2024, but there was not a word from him until May 8th, 2024. Those were nine days of unexplained vacuum.
”In August 2024, President Tinubu flew to China via Dubai. After his engagements in Beijing, he vanished from public view on September 5th, and mysteriously surfaced in London on September 11th. He was missing for six days—no explanations, no letter transmitted to the National Assembly, just silence.
”And in the same August 2024, the President also embarked on yet another “brief work stay” in Paris. He remained incommunicado for three days, then quietly returned, as if the nation does not deserve to know,” the statement stated.
Deji Elumoye and Chuks Okocha
Follow us on:
