President Bola Tinubu departed Abuja on Sunday for Europe to begin a three-week vacation as part of his annual leave. His first stop will be London, United Kingdom.
According to a statement issued on August 30, 2026, by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, Tinubu is expected to return after the working vacation and join preparations for the January 2027 election.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, now the 2027 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), criticised the President’s decision to travel at a time of economic and security challenges.
Atiku said “Nigeria may not be facing a constitutional vacuum today, but there is a disturbing vacuum of political leadership.”
He argued that Tinubu’s absence reflected misplaced priorities, contrasting it with his own travels as a private citizen.
Atiku listed rising living costs, food insecurity, high transport fares, and insecurity among the challenges confronting Nigerians.
“Consider what Bola Tinubu is leaving behind. Petrol priced beyond the reach of ordinary people. Families rationing food. Transport fares that have turned a journey to one’s own village into a luxury. Insecurity that buries Nigerians week after week,” he said.
He noted that Vice President Kashim Shettima was also out of the country on official duty, making Tinubu’s absence harder to understand.
Leadership And Responsibility
Atiku said leadership requires knowing when a country needs the physical presence of its leader.
“Leadership is not merely the constitutional right to occupy an office; it is the judgment to know when your country needs you at home,” he said.
Using a fire analogy, he added: “A father may travel when all is well. But when his roof is burning and his family is trapped inside, he does not pick up his suitcase and head for the airport.”
Atiku clarified that his criticism was not based on the principle that a president should never rest but on the severity of Nigeria’s current challenges.
“It is not that a President must never rest or travel. It is that Nigeria is burning, and the President has chosen a boarding pass over the fire extinguisher,” he said.
He concluded: “Millions of Nigerians are being grounded by hardship while their President is airborne. Tinubu made Nigeria expensive. I will make Nigeria affordable again.”
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