*Atiku Queries President’s Absence Again, Alleges It Has Links To Issues In America
*Tinubu Not Attending Due To Fear Of Arrest – Sowore Claims
*Nobody Will Arrest Tinubu In America, Past Enemies Of US Including Gaddafi, Castro, Khomeini, Others Freely Attended UNGA -Presidential Aide Declares
Ahead of Tuesday’s high-level General Debate session of the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, United States (US), which Heads of Government all over the world are expected to attend, President Bola Tinubu will not be physically present at the paramount global gathering.
An announcement by the Presidency that the President would return to Nigeria after his three-week vacation in Europe, lifted the lid on his potential absence from UNGA.
Tinubu had been listed as the 10th speaker during the morning session on the second day of the General Debate, scheduled for Wednesday, 23 September.
Stanley Nkwocha, a media aide to Vice President (VP) Kashim Shettima disclosed the development in a statement Sunday (yesterday).
According to the statement, Tinubu had directed the VP to lead Nigeria’s delegation to the UNGA.
Shettima is now known to have left for the event.
Tinubu’s absence was also confirmed after a provisional list of speakers obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) showed that the VP would represent Nigeria at the General Debate.
UNGA’s 81st session began on 8 September, 2026, while the high-level week is scheduled to kick off from tomorrow (22 September) to 29 September in New York City.
Atiku Queries Tinubu’s UNGA Absence Again, Claims It Has Links To Issues In America
Obviously unimpressed by the President’s third straight absence from the vital UNGA –a yearly gathering –, former VP and presidential candidate of African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar has requested Tinubu to explain his decision not to, again, attend this year.
Abubakar, simply known as Atiku, pried to know if the President’s past controversies, including issues pertaining to his records while he lived in the US when he was a young man, had become like an albatross on the neck of Nigeria’s foreign relations.
In a statement issued yesterday by his Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the ex-VP noted that Tinubu had also been absent from the 79th UNGA in 2024 and the 80th in 2025, with Shettima representing him on both occasions.
Atiku insisted that the repeated absences required an explanation.
Dwelling on the national advantages of attendance by Heads of Government, he disclosed that UNGA provides them with opportunities to hold bilateral meetings, pursue partnerships and advance their countries’ interests.
Atiku stated: “The United Nations General Assembly is one of the world’s most important diplomatic gatherings. It brings together the representatives of the UN’s 193 member states and provides a unique platform for presidents and prime ministers to defend their countries’ interests, negotiate partnerships and shape global decisions on trade, security and development.
“Vice President Shettima may represent Nigeria capably, but representation by delegation cannot permanently substitute for the personal authority, visibility and responsibility of the President.
“Tinubu cannot continue to treat Nigeria’s seat at the world’s biggest diplomatic table as though it were an inconvenient appointment that can be endlessly outsourced.”
Atiku also questioned the economic implications of the President’s absence, saying activities on the sidelines of UNGA provide opportunities for leaders to engage investors, development partners and other governments.
“When a President makes himself absent from that stage for three consecutive years, his country loses opportunities.
“Investment does not follow silence. International capital does not pursue a country whose leader repeatedly abandons the room in which consequential economic relationships are being built,” he stressed.
The ex-VP further linked Tinubu’s absence to Nigeria’s reported $9 million engagement of a US lobbying firm.
Atiku said the spending stoked questions about why the administration would invest heavily in improving Nigeria’s standing in Washington while the President repeatedly stayed away from UNGA in New York.
“What exactly did Nigerians purchase with that money? Why spend millions of dollars lobbying Washington while Tinubu repeatedly stays away from New York?
“Why hire lobbyists to speak for Nigeria in America when the Nigerian President cannot summon the courage to appear at the world’s biggest diplomatic gathering on American soil?” he asked.
Atiku also questioned an earlier statement by Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Jimoh Ibrahim, that a seat had been secured for Tinubu “not too far from where the US President, Donald Trump, will be seated.”
Atiku probed: “The seat was secured, but the President disappeared.
“If proximity to President Trump was considered such a diplomatic achievement, why did Tinubu abandon the opportunity and send his deputy?”
Consequently, he fired posers over the President’s US records, pointing at a 1993 forfeiture case in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Atiku stated: “The complaint stated that the funds represented proceeds of narcotics trafficking and money laundering.
“A supporting sworn affidavit by an Internal Revenue Service criminal-investigation agent similarly stated that funds in accounts controlled by Bola Tinubu were connected to drug-trafficking proceeds. The proceedings eventually resulted in the forfeiture of approximately $460,000 to the United States government.”
Admitting the absence of any known legal millstone on the neck hindering Tinubu from showing up in the US, Atiku sought to know if the President’s past legal issues had any hand in his decision to stay away.
“We are not asserting that Tinubu is legally prohibited from entering the United States. The Presidency has announced no such restriction.
“But if no legal, diplomatic, medical or personal impediment exists, why has Tinubu repeatedly avoided the UNGA since 2024?” Atiku queried.
He expressed concern that “one man’s personal history” had become a weight on Nigeria’s diplomatic interactions.
“Nigeria is bigger than Bola. Our diplomatic influence, economic interests and international reputation must not be subordinated to Tinubu’s American baggage.
“After committing up to $9 million to American lobbyists, Nigerians deserve more than silence, evasions and another empty presidential seat at the United Nations.
“If there is no impediment, the Presidency must explain this serial absenteeism. If an impediment exists, Nigerians have a right to know,” the former number two citizen stated.
Tinubu Not Attending UNGA Due To Fear Of Arrest— Sowore Claims
Sounding similar to Atiku, prominent human rights activist and presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2027 poll, Omoyele Sowore, claimed that Tinubu cannot be at the UNGA as he is allegedly sensitive to arrest possibilities by the President Donald Trump administration over alleged drug trafficking matter.
In a post on X in reaction to Tinubu’s UNGA absence, Sowore further alleged that the President was in Paris for medical treatment and not vacation as earlier announced to Nigerians by the Presidency.
Sowore stated: “There is something inherently wrong with Nigeria. To think that the Tinubu @officialABAT mummified showcasing and stunts in Paris just went like that, coupled with his inability to go to the UN General Assembly which I heard is because of his mortal fear that the US govt could order his arrest for his past drug-dealing case, is just surprising.
“Every sycophant is playing along, and society has acquiesced completely.
“Tinubu is not on vacation; he is receiving treatment in France, and they will package him to return as though nothing happened.
“We have seen this script before with Yar’Adua and Buhari: secrecy, deception, carefully managed appearances and a country expected to look away.
“Nigeria must be liberty only from these machinations but the mentality that sustains it. #RevolutionNow.”
Nobody Will Arrest Tinubu In America, Past Enemies Of US Including Gaddafi, Castro, Khomeini, Others Freely Attended UNGA –Tinubu’s Aide Says
*’Pure Nonsense, Political To Say Tinubu’ll Be Arrested’
It is not all pessimism, though, as presidential SSA on Foreign Affairs and Protocol, Ademola Oshodi, has taken a hard look at the claim of possible arrest, dismissing it totally.
To him, it is “pure nonsense” and politically motivated even as he provided material to back his own claim.
Responding to questions on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, the aide contended that the US can not arrest a sitting Head of Government during UNGA as a matter of international protocol and diplomacy.
Substantiating his position on the matter, Oshodi pointed to former Libyan strongman and then-enemy of the US, the now-late Muammar Gaddafi; ex-Cuban President Fidel Castro; and America’s main enemy in the Persian Gulf, the now-late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran’s Supreme Leader, as leaders who visited or had dealings with the US in spite of bitter political animosity.
Oshodi said: “There is absolutely no impediment. You know, for absolutely no reason, it is pure politics. This election season is a silly season of people saying things for electoral advantage. It is that simple.
“You know, in any situation, they would not. I repeat, America would not, in any case, arrest any Heads of State.
“Muammar Gaddafi, you know, of Libya, the guy in Cuba, Castro, you know the Ayatollah Khomeini. There’s so many people that touch the grounds of the United Nations that the Americans did not want.
“You know, Bola Tinubu, the President, has been in America. I was there with him twice. I was doing everything prior to that before he was President. So this is pure nonsense, and it’s politics.”
*PHOTO CAPTION: L-R: Tinubu and Trump.
