FORMER Vice President Atiku Abubakar has demanded an explanation from President Bola Tinubu over his decision to miss the United Nations General Assembly for the third consecutive year, questioning whether his past dealings with United States authorities have influenced his absence.
The ICIR reports that Tinubu will not attend the 81st UN General Assembly in New York, with Vice-President Kashim Shettima scheduled to lead Nigeria’s delegation to the gathering beginning on September 22.
The Presidency announced on Sunday, September 22, that Tinubu had mandated Shettima to represent him, alongside Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara, Zamfara State Governor Dauda Lawal, ministers and other senior government officials.
Abubakar, in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said Tinubu was also absent from the 79th UNGA in 2024 and the 80th session in 2025, when Shettima represented Nigeria.
He said the repeated absence could no longer be treated as a routine delegation and demanded that the Presidency explain why Tinubu had again chosen not to attend.
“The United Nations General Assembly is one of the world’s most important diplomatic gatherings. It brings together the representatives of the UN’s 193 member states and provides a unique platform for presidents and prime ministers to defend their countries’ interests, negotiate partnerships and shape global decisions on trade, security and development,” Abubakar said.
The former vice-president and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate for the 2027 election acknowledged that Shettima could represent Nigeria but argued that repeated delegation could not substitute for the president’s personal participation in high-level diplomatic engagements.
According to him, UNGA provides opportunities for world leaders to hold bilateral meetings, pursue investment and trade partnerships, mobilise development financing and advance their countries’ interests.
“When a president makes himself absent from that stage for three consecutive years, his country loses opportunities,” Abubakar said.
Abubakar also questioned Tinubu’s decision after Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Jimoh Ibrahim, had earlier said arrangements had been made for the president to sit close to United States President Donald Trump during the General Assembly.
He asked why the reported proximity to Trump had been presented as a diplomatic opportunity if Tinubu ultimately would not attend the meeting.
“If proximity to President Trump was considered such a diplomatic achievement, why did Tinubu abandon the opportunity and send his deputy? Why celebrate securing a strategic seat for the president when the president had no intention of occupying it?
“That contradiction becomes even more scandalous when Nigerians remember that Tinubu’s administration committed up to $9 million of Nigeria’s scarce foreign exchange to American lobbyists supposedly hired to improve its standing before the government and people of the United States,” he said.
Abubakar then linked the president’s absence to Tinubu’s documented legal history in the United States.
He referred to a 1993 forfeiture proceeding in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois involving funds in accounts associated with Tinubu.
According to the former president, the proceedings eventually resulted in the forfeiture of about $460,000 to the US government.
Abubakar further referred to allegations contained in documents from the case concerning the source of the funds.
“We are not asserting that Tinubu is legally prohibited from entering the United States. The Presidency has announced no such restriction. But if no legal, diplomatic, medical or personal impediment exists, why has Tinubu repeatedly avoided the UNGA since 2024?” he said.
He nevertheless questioned whether the president’s past US legal history had any bearing on his repeated decision not to attend the UNGA.
“Nigerians are therefore entitled to ask whether Tinubu’s three consecutive UNGA absences have anything to do with this documented American history,” he said.
He demanded that the Presidency state whether there was any legal, diplomatic, medical or personal impediment preventing Tinubu from travelling to the United States.
Mustapha Usman is an investigative journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: musman@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M