The controversy surrounding President Bola Tinubu’s prolonged stay in France has taken a dramatic new turn, with African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore alleging that the President is receiving medical treatment in the European country.
Sowore’s claim, if substantiated, could significantly alter the public narrative surrounding Tinubu’s extended absence from Nigeria, coming barely a day after the Presidency again assured Nigerians that the President was “hale and hearty” and would return to the country this week. (Arise News)
The allegation was made during an interview on ARISE TV’s Prime Time on Monday, where Sowore linked what he described as information from reliable sources to Tinubu’s prolonged stay in France and his decision not to personally attend the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Sowore did not provide publicly verifiable medical records or identify the alleged illness. Rather, he said his information came from sources he considered reliable, adding that he did not know the nature of the condition supposedly being treated.
The allegation is particularly significant because Tinubu’s European trip has already extended well beyond the three-week annual vacation initially announced by the Presidency. He left Nigeria on August 30 for London before moving to Paris, with the Presidency subsequently announcing an extension of his stay. (State House Abuja)
The President was initially expected back at the weekend, but his return was subsequently shifted to Tuesday, September 29, with Presidency sources saying he would arrive in Lagos and participate in Independence Day activities before returning to Abuja. (THISDAYLIVE)
That shifting timetable has already fuelled public questions over why the President’s stay abroad has lasted almost four weeks and why he did not attend the UN General Assembly, where Vice President Kashim Shettima represented Nigeria.
The Presidency, however, has maintained a completely different account of the President’s absence.
Presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga said on Sunday that Tinubu was “hale and hearty”, insisting that the President had been on a working vacation and had continued performing his duties from abroad. He cited meetings with investors in France, including engagements connected to a proposed $7 billion-plus Gateway Deep Seaport and Ogun State Blue Marine Special Economic Zone. (Arise News)
The State House has also maintained that Tinubu continued directing affairs of government while abroad, including ordering an investigation into the deaths of 37 suspected illegal miners in Niger State. (State House Abuja)
Sowore, however, alleged that the President’s occasional engagements were designed to give the impression that he was carrying out his normal duties, while claiming that his information indicated that Tinubu had been undergoing treatment.
The competing accounts have therefore turned what began as an ordinary presidential vacation into a wider question of transparency, presidential health, continuity of government and public accountability.
The controversy had already acquired a constitutional dimension before Sowore’s allegation emerged, with opposition figures questioning the implications of the President’s absence beyond the originally announced 21-day period and asking whether the constitutional procedure for transferring presidential functions had been activated. The Presidency and Senate President Godswill Akpabio have maintained that Tinubu remains in charge and that there is no vacancy in the presidency. (Arise News)
Against that background, the President’s expected return to Nigeria on Tuesday now assumes additional public significance. His physical appearance and official engagements could provide an immediate opportunity for the Presidency to settle some of the questions generated by his prolonged stay abroad.
For now, however, Sowore’s claim remains an allegation without publicly disclosed medical evidence, while the Presidency continues to insist that Tinubu is in good health and has been working from France.
The development therefore leaves Nigerians with two sharply contrasting accounts of why the President has spent an extended period outside the country — one officially described as a working vacation, and another alleging medical treatment.
