Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has criticised President Bola Tinubu over his decision to embark on a three-week vacation in Europe amid worsening economic hardship and insecurity across the country.
Politics Nigeria recalls that Tinubu departed Abuja on Sunday for Europe to commence a three-week vacation.
A statement released on by the special adviser on information and strategy to the president, Bayo Onanuga, said Tinubu’s first destination is London, United Kingdom. Onanuga added that the president would return to Nigeria at the end of the working vacation and resume his activities ahead of the 2027 general elections.
However, Atiku, in a statement posted on his social media handles, argued that while Nigeria is not experiencing a constitutional vacuum, the country is facing what he described as a “disturbing vacuum of political leadership.”
He said the President’s decision to leave the country at a time when Nigerians are grappling with rising living costs, expensive transportation, petrol prices and insecurity was difficult to justify
According to him, Tinubu’s absence becomes more concerning because Vice President Kashim Shettima is also currently outside the country on official duty.
“I have travelled, lived and spent time abroad, and I have never pretended otherwise. But there is a fundamental difference between the travels of a private citizen and the responsibility of the sitting President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” Atiku said.
He listed what he described as the challenges confronting Nigerians, including high petrol prices, food insecurity, rising transport fares and persistent insecurity.
“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.
Atiku questioned the timing of the President’s vacation, saying the situation in the country demanded stronger political leadership and the physical presence of the President.
“The Vice President is abroad on official duty. That makes the President’s decision even more difficult to understand. 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 added.
Using an analogy of a family in crisis, the former vice president said a leader should remain with his people when the country is facing serious challenges.
“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,” he said.
Atiku further accused the Tinubu administration of being disconnected from the hardship faced by ordinary Nigerians.
“A government that cannot feel the pain it inflicts will never summon the will to end it,” he said.
He also projected his political agenda ahead of the 2027 presidential election, declaring, “Tinubu made Nigeria expensive. I will make Nigeria affordable again.”
Meanwhile, a presidential spokesperson, Sunday Dare, on Sunday, justified Tinubu’s three-week annual working leave.
Explaining the reason for the leave after seeing off the president at the presidential wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe airport in Abuja, Dare said the break would allow Tinubu to “refuel” after months of intense engagement with state matters.
He claimed that the president had spent the past six to seven months handling state matters, including decisions on security and the economy, ahead of the campaign season for the 2027 elections.
