President Bola Tinubu has come under fire from Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s 2023 presidential contender, over his trip to Saint Lucia, calling it ill-timed and insensitive to the ongoing insecurity and misery plaguing the nation.
As part of efforts to increase Nigeria’s involvement with the Caribbean countries and fortify South-South collaboration, Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said on Friday that the President would make a state visit to Saint Lucia on Saturday.
Onanuga added that at the end of the visit to the island nation, Tinubu would fly to Brazil to participate in the 17th Summit of BRICS in Rio de Janeiro.
However, Obi, in a statement titled “No, Mr President, This is Not the Time for Holidaying,” expressed shock at Tinubu’s choice to embark on a vacation while Nigerians continue to grapple with hunger, insecurity, and devastation from natural disasters.
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 said.
He questioned how the President could contemplate a vacation while the country battles severe insecurity, hunger, and the aftermath of natural disasters.
“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.
