Peter Obi says Tinubu’s trip to Saint Lucia and Brazil is a tone-deaf move that ignores Nigeria’s worsening crises and rising poverty.
SAHARA REPORTERS
In a statement he titled: “No, Mr President, this is not the Time for Holidaying” and posted on his verified X (formerly Twitter) account on Saturday, Obi expressed shock over what he termed the government’s misplaced priorities and apparent detachment from the country’s deepening crisis.
Former presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) Peter Obi, has slammed President Bola Tinubu over his trip to Saint Lucia, Brazil, describing it as ill-timed and insensitive to the realities facing millions of Nigerians.
In a statement he titled: “No, Mr President, this is not the Time for Holidaying” and posted on his verified X (formerly Twitter) account on Saturday, Obi expressed shock over what he termed the government’s misplaced priorities and apparent detachment from the country’s deepening crisis.
“Dear Nigerians, I am struggling with my senses to understand what is happening to governance in this country,” Obi wrote.
“What I have seen and witnessed in the last two years has left me in shock about poor governance delivery and apparent channelling of energy into politics and satisfaction of the elites, while the masses in our midst are languishing in want.”
His statement comes in response to an official announcement from the Presidency confirming President Tinubu’s departure to Saint Lucia for what was described as a combination of official engagements and private leisure time.
SaharaReporters earlier reported that Tinubu’s aide, Bayo Onanuga in a statement said that the president would first visit Saint Lucia on a state visit to deepen Nigeria’s engagement with Caribbean nations.
According to the release, Tinubu would thereafter fly to Brazil to participate in the 17th Summit of BRICS in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from July 6 – 7, 2025.
But Obi noted that according to Saint Lucia’s Prime Minister, Philip J. Pierre, Tinubu’s visit, spanning several days, includes two days of official activities – June 30 and July 1, with the rest allocated to personal vacation.
Obi said he had initially dismissed the news when it was first reported.
He said, “In the past two years, Nigeria has lost more people to all sorts of criminality than a country that is officially at war.
“Without any twilight, Nigeria ranks among the most insecure places in the world. Nigerians are hungrier, and most people do not know where their next meal will come from.
“With such a gory picture of one’s country, you can imagine my bewilderment when I saw a news release from the Presidency announcing that President Bola Tinubu is departing Nigeria today for a visit to Saint Lucia in the Caribbean.
“The Presidency release merely confirmed an earlier news report since last week where the Prime Minister of the Caribbean Philip J. Pierre announced at a pre-cabinet press briefing on Monday, last week that
“President Bola Tinubu is expected to depart Nigeria on Saturday, June 28, 2025, for Saint Lucia for official engagements and private leisure time.
“According to the Prime Minister’s announcement “two of these days, June 30 and July 1, will be dedicated to an official visit, with the remainder of the trip set aside as a personal vacation.
“I told the person who drew my attention to the Caribbean story that it cannot be true and that the President is just coming back from a holiday in Lagos.
“I didn’t want to believe that anybody in the position of authority, more so the President, on whose table the buck stops in this country, with all the myriad problems in virtually all areas of governance, would contemplate a leisure trip at this time.”
Obi criticised the President’s failure to visit Minna, Niger State, where over 200 people reportedly died and more than 700 remain missing following a devastating flood.
“This is a President going for leisure when he couldn’t visit Minna, Niger state where over two hundred lives were lost and over 700 persons still missing in a flood natural disaster,” he said.
“I wonder which type of incident will happen before a President is attracted to show physical sympathy to the distressed citizens.”
He also referenced a previous visit to Benue State, which he described as politically motivated rather than compassionate.
“The other state in crisis where over two hundred lives were murdered, the President yielded to public pressure and visited Makurdi the state capital for what turned out to be a political jamboree than condolence as public holiday was declared and children made to line up to receive the President who couldn’t even reach the village, the scene of the brutal attack,” Obi stated, referring to how children were made to line up to welcome the President.
Drawing a geographical and demographic comparison, Obi noted, “In terms of land size, Makurdi is 937.4 Km, which is over 59% bigger than St Lucia, which is 617 km², and Minna is 6789 square kilometres, which is ten times bigger than St Lucia.”
According to him, St Lucia, with a population of 180,000, is less than half of Makurdi’s 489,839 and Minna, with 532,000 is almost three times the population of St Lucia.
Obi stressed, “I don’t think the situation in this country today calls for leisure for anybody in a position of authority, more so the President, on whose desk the buck stops.
“This regime has repeatedly shown its insensitivity and lack of passion for the populace, going by the way it prioritises the rich and shows indifference to the poor.
“This very obvious indifference of the federal government to the suffering of the Nigerian poor should urgently be reversed.”
He further condemned the Tinubu administration’s focus on political survival rather than the people’s welfare.
He said, “One had expected the President to be asking God for extra hours in a day for the challenges, but what we see is a concentration of efforts in the 2027 election and on satisfying the wealthy while the mass poor continues to multiply in number.”
Calling for urgent redirection, Obi said, “I like to let our leaders know one thing that the God given resources of this country belong to all, not to a few.
“The time has come to put a stop to this drift before it consumes all and focus on pulling people out of poverty.”
THIS STORY ORIGINALLY APPEARED AT SAHARA REPORTERS