Labour party presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, has expressed disappointment over President Bola Tinubu’s trip to Saint Lucia, calling it ill-timed and insensitive amid the current insecurity and hardship in the country.
The president’s trip was announced on Friday by Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, and it was revealed that it is to deepen Nigeria’s engagement with the Caribbean nations and strengthen South-South cooperation.
Onanuga added that Tinubu would head to Brazil to participate in the 17th Summit of BRICS in Rio de Janeiro after his visit to the Island country.
Faulting the trip in a statement titled ‘No, Mr President, This is Not the Time for Holidaying’ Obi said partly, “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.
“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.
“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.
“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 (Saturday) for a visit to Saint Lucia in the Caribbean.”