The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) expresses profound disappointment and grave concern over the absence of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu from the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.
This is the third consecutive time since his assuming office in 2023 that President Tinubu has failed to show up at the world’s largest gathering of heads of state and government. For weeks, Nigerians were told by Nigeria’s Permanent Representative, Amb. Jimoh Ibrahim, that the President would attend and would be seated close to President Donald Trump, even when that looked totally improbable, going by the conventional sitting arrangements at UNGA. Only for the presidency to announce on Sunday, 20th September 2026, that Vice President Kashim Shettima had been “mandated” to lead the country’s delegation.
This pattern of disappearing acts, compounded by his unexplained more than three-week absence from Nigeria on a so-called vacation in Europe, is unpresidential, unconstitutional, and unacceptable.
1.CONSTITUTIONAL VIOLATION AND GOVERNANCE VACUUM:
Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) is clear: when the President is proceeding on vacation or is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office, he shall transmit a written declaration to the National Assembly. President Tinubu left Nigeria on August 30th, extended his stay in Paris indefinitely, and never formally transmitted power. Nigeria was left adrift – no president at home, no president at the UN. Why is the president always afraid of transmitting a written declaration to the National Assembly? At some point, the country was on autopilot with the absence of the president, vice president, and senate president from the country.
2.DIPLOMATIC AND ECONOMIC LOSSES:
UNGA is not a jamboree for 15-minute speeches. It is where presidents look other presidents in the eye, sign off on concrete decisions, secure direct foreign investment, negotiate debt relief, climate finance, and security cooperation.
While over 130 heads of state were present for direct presidential-level bilateral talks, Nigeria sent a proxy. Investors do not sign billion-dollar deals with proxies. You can not outsource presidential diplomacy.
The cost is enormous:
– Loss of direct FDI engagements
– Loss of leverage on global financial reform, which Nigeria itself champions
– Loss of strategic security partnerships at a time Nigeria battles terrorism
– Diminution of Nigeria’s stature as Giant of Africa
This is made more painful by the contrast next door. Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama delivered a sterling, statesmanlike performance at UNGA 81 – articulating Africa’s position on debt justice, climate reparations, and restoring trust in multilateralism While Ghana commanded attention, Nigeria’s presidential seat was empty. Mahama spoke for Africa; Nigeria was spoken for.
3.THE PRESIDENCY’S EXCUSE IS AN INSULT:
To say the President can not fly to New York “to speak for just 15 minutes,” as Ambassador Ibrahim said, betrays a fundamental ignorance of diplomacy. Every world leader gets 15 minutes. What matters is what you do with the other 10,000 minutes of high-level corridor diplomacy. That is where the world is run.
We in the NDC demand:
1. Immediate full disclosure of the president’s whereabouts and health status.
2. Compliance with Section 145 henceforth – no more informal, unconstitutional rule from abroad.
3. An end to this imperial presidency that treats accountability as an afterthought.
A nation of over 200 million people can not be run by delegation and press release. Nigeria deserves a president who is present.
