Peter Obi, Labour Party LP presidential candidate in the 2023 election, has reiterated what he described as “the apparent indifference and the insensitivity of President Bola Tinubu to the myriad challenges facing the country.”
Obi, reacting to the president’s plans to jet out of the country to Japan and Brazil, said on his X handle that the trip will bring the number of days the president is spending outside his office to about 200 days out of the 806 days.
Obi said Tinubu’s “indifference to our problem is worrisome.”
President Tinubu left the country on Thursday morning on a two-nation visit, with a stopover in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.
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Obi reminded President Tinubu that “he is not a tourist but the president of a troubled country.”
“Amid the deplorable state of our nation in all ramifications, we have a virtually indifferent President who has continued to display insensitivity to our situation.
“Our President’s planned trip of 12 days departing today, if necessary, should have been at most a 5-day trip as the event he was invited to in Japan commences on the 20th.
“How can anyone explain that a President who came from Brazil recently and met with the President is returning to the same country, leaving the various degrees of challenges at home unresolved?
“The President will stop over in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, before proceeding to Japan,” the former Anambra State governor said.
In Japan, President Tinubu will attend the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD9) in the City of Yokohama from August 20 to 22. The itinerary is silent on the president’s return date.
Obi said “the situation we find ourselves in is deeply worrisome,” noting that the president, who has not found it worthy to visit any of our troubled states in Nigeria, takes joy in travelling to foreign countries at the slightest invitation or excuse – often departing several days even before the events he’s invited to.
“In his last trip, for instance, he had a one-week state visit to St Lucia before attending the BRICS Summit, where Nigeria was merely invited as an observer, though the role was dressed up as ‘partner’ to the invitation, which was more significant. The leaders of actual member countries who attended only arrived a day or two at most for the event.
“Nigeria’s insecurity situation, economic hardship, and human suffering have reached their peak. We are now counted among the most insecure nations, the most fragile economies, and the hungriest countries in the world,” he further said.
Obi stated that the dire reality facing the nation demands the full attention of President Tinubu, stressing that “his travels should be more within our troubled states and communities, spending time on the ground, and taking decisive action to alleviate the people’s suffering rather than these overseas conferences that contribute little or no tangible value to our nation’s woes.”
He said where the trip is necessary at all, it could be attended in just a few days.
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“What our nation needs now is security of lives and properties, economic stability and ensuring that our people have food on their table.
“Nigeria today demands competent leadership with capacity and compassion to start dealing with the problems besetting it with the presence and sacrifice required.
“Mr. President must, as a matter of urgency, commence tours of our states with the same enthusiasm he shows for jetting out of the country every month. These visits will enable him to see, listen and learn more about what Nigerians are going through.”
Obi said though Nigerians know that the nation’s huge problems cannot be solved overnight, they want to see 100 percent effort and tireless commitment to solving them.
“Most importantly, our President must know that he’s not a tourist, but the Chief Executive of a troubled nation, so he must have consciousness, no strict work schedules and a strict travelling schedule to show that he has a troubled country to quickly return to.”
