President Bola Tinubu travelled to France on Wednesday, January 24, 2024, in what his media aide, Ajuri Ngelale, called a private visit. A statement by Ngelale indicated that the President was due back in the country in the first week of February 2024. Nigerians were not told the nature of this private visit.
This gave room for speculations. Some critics said he went to Paris for medical treatment. Incidentally, the phrase, ‘private visit’, appears to have become a euphemism for medical tourism involving our leaders. Tinubu’s predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, travelled to many countries on official visits during his tenure. Nigerians were duly informed about those visits. But some of his visits to London for medical treatment were termed ‘private visits’.
When the late President Umaru Yar’Adua was seriously down in a Saudi Arabian hospital, Nigerians were not adequately informed. The President did not transmit any letter to the National Assembly to enable his then deputy, Goodluck Jonathan, to act. Nigerians were kept guessing about the whereabouts and condition of their President. So many things were done in his name during this period and many Nigerians could not tell whether the President was actually the one who authorised those things or not. When his long absence became embarrassing, the National Assembly was forced to adopt what it called the ‘doctrine of necessity’ to allow Jonathan to act as President. Eventually, Yar’Adua died and Jonathan took over formally.
Regrettably, the aides of Nigerian leaders have a way of defending the indefensible. Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, defended Buhari’s travels then, saying a leader could govern from the air, on the road or at the sea. Special Adviser to President Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said recently that Tinubu was on top of the domestic situation even while in France.
In sane countries, it will be abnormal for a President to travel to another country in the name of a private visit. Otherwise, how many Presidents have come here to Nigeria on a private visit? How many sign important bills outside the shores of their countries as some Nigerian past presidents did? Yar’Adua signed some bills from his hospital bed abroad. Even Buhari signed the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contract Amendment Bill in London.
The frequency of President Tinubu’s visits abroad calls for serious concern. If it’s about medical tourism, he has the opportunity now to fix our health care system to reduce the exodus of our people to foreign hospitals for treatment.
Worthy of note is the fact that once you are a public figure, there is a thin line between your private and public life. King Charles of England, 75, had treatment for an enlarged prostate the other day. The public was informed about it. It has not detracted from who he is. Rather, it drew public sympathy and good wishes for him. It also prompted most men to have their prostate checked. Recently, the Namibian President, Hage Geingob, 82, informed his citizens that he would be going for a specialised medical treatment in the United States after the discovery of cancerous cells in his body.
The United States Secretary of Defence, Lloyd Austin, 70, went for prostate cancer surgery on December 22, 2023. He developed complications and was hospitalised in January 2024 without making it public. The American citizens rose in condemnation of Austin. The man has apologised publicly for keeping his hospitalisation secret.
People must see and know what a public office-holder, especially a president, is doing. Everything a President does should be explained. Nigerians should no longer be kept in the dark about their President’s visits or actions.
In any case, Tinubu should stay at home and face the numerous problems confronting his country. The major concern of Nigerians now is insecurity and hunger. Kidnappings and killings have become the order of the day. No part of the country is safe. Even the South-West we thought was safe has also become a hotbed of kidnapping. The other day, two monarchs were abducted and later killed in Ekiti State. Almost the same period, some schoolchildren were also abducted. They are yet to be released as of press time.
In Plateau State, gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen have killed hundreds of innocent citizens in some communities in the state. In the South-East and many parts of the North, it is the same story.
The insecurity problem is exacerbated by the acute hunger and poverty in the land. The high cost of living is unprecedented. Prices of most commodities have skyrocketed to over 200 per cent. Naira is on a free fall against the dollar and other major currencies. Travelling on a private visit when the country is burning is insensitive, to say the least.