Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has issued a scathing call for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to end his two-week retreat in France and return home to face Nigeria’s worsening security crisis head-on.
In a strongly worded statement posted on his official X (formerly Twitter) account, Obi dubbed Tinubu a “retreating president” and expressed dismay over the president’s absence as deadly attacks and abductions spike across the country.
“Over 150 Nigerians have been killed in just two weeks, yet our President remains abroad, disconnected from the pain and suffering at home,” Obi wrote.
President Tinubu left Nigeria on April 2 for what the presidency described as a “working visit” to France. According to official statements, the trip was aimed at reviewing the administration’s performance and engaging in strategic planning ahead of its second anniversary.
But as the president holds meetings abroad, terror grips the homeland. Obi highlighted surging violence in Plateau, Benue, Zamfara, Borno, and the South-East, citing both renewed insurgency and pipeline explosions in the Niger Delta as signs of a nation in distress.
“The CEO of the troubling company called Nigeria is retreating in a faraway land, while the company burns,” Obi charged.
He emphasized that leadership cannot be remote-controlled, calling on Tinubu to lead from the front and fulfill the government’s primary responsibility: the protection of lives and property.
“This fight is not about politics or individuals. It’s about delivering real safety, real hope, and real governance to every Nigerian,” Obi concluded.
The presidency has yet to respond to Obi’s remarks as public anxiety continues to mount over the unrelenting violence across the country.
