Tinubu Returns To Nigeria After One Week of Silence On His Whereabouts

Sep 29, 2023

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President Bola Tinubu has returned to Nigeria after a week of silence on his whereabouts at the end of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

There were concerns about the president’s itinerary after members of the delegation which accompanied him to the US returned to the country.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Yusuf Tuggar; Minister of Communication, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, as well as the President’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, were among those who accompanied him to the US.

Presidential spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, had been silent on the location of Tinubu who departed New York on September 22.

The president’s whereabouts were unknown until he returned to Nigeria on Friday night, although unconfirmed reports had it that he flew to Paris from New York.

While in US, the Nigerian leader had addressed the General Assembly, saying his country accords with the objectives and guiding principles of the world body: peace, security, human rights and development.

Tinubu, as Chairman of ECOWAS, solicited help to re-establish democratic governance in a manner that addresses the political and economic challenges confronting that nation, including the violent extremists who seek to foment instability in our region.

He had also met with some Nigerians in the U.S, where he urged them to change their mindset to succeed.

At the Presidential Town Hall Meeting with Nigerians in the diaspora, Tinubu urged them to come back home, noting that Nigeria has arrived and that they should forget the frustration of the previous year’s leadership,

After his interaction with Nigerians, he met with the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, where he noted that African nations would start to take appropriate actions against actors that illicitly siphon and smuggle out the continent’s vast mineral resources.

The Nigerian leader told the UN chief that human rights had been used to deter actions against such actors that smuggle out African resources and bring in Western-made weapons.

He also rang the bell at the National Association of Securities Dealers Automatic Quotation System at the world’s financial capital, New York.