Tinubu has spent about 60 days on 8 trips to France for allegedly private, business, and medical matters
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
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“Under his government, you are not talking of one or two souls. You are talking of dozens of people mauled in cold blood.
“It is not out of place if the President cuts short his visit and goes to Plateau and sympathise with the people and deploys the needed resources to curtail future occurrence. That is how you know leaders who show concern, not this nonchalant attitude.
“If the President is not using this visit to attend to his health, why can’t he reflect in Nigeria? They say he wants to do appraisal of his administration. Does he have to go to France to do that kind of appraisal?
“He can even be in his Lagos home and say he doesn’t want to see anybody. Even in his Abuja office, he can shut out every visitor and attend to issues of national importance.
“Who says we cannot even have a place like Camp David within this country that our President could go to ? We have Obudu Cattle Ranch ….
“What stops the President from visiting places like Plateau and Uromi and sympathise with the people following the killings there?
“I know that the reason the President went to France this time around is not entirely to do appraisal. My gut feeling is that he also went to attend to himself”
– Jide Ojo (development consultant and public affairs analyst)
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Bola Tinubu has holed himself up in Paris since April 2 in his eighth trip to France as President and when he returns, he would have spent about 60 days in the European country alone, 4,704 kilometres away from Nigeria where more than 150 citizens have been killed by terrorists in rising insecurity since his latest junket.
He has also travelled to other countries but his almost ritual gallivantings to France raise eyebrows the most among citizens, going AWOL from his job even when the country is bleeding as in the ongoing terrorist massacres in Plateau and Benue.
Except for one official “state visit” last year, he always shrouds the quarterly trips in secrecy, calling them “private visits” or “working visits”, but critics see them as medical tourism to fix his frail body at 73.
His predecessor Muhammadu Buhari commissioned in May 2023, a few days before he left office, a N19 billion clinic in Aso Rock which his wife Aisha said was built to prevent the need for Presidents to go abroad for medical treatment.
Tinubu’s alleged medical tourism, if true, would be a carry over from the Buhari years in office when his predecessor spent many, many days and millions of public treasury dollars for medical treatment, mostly in the United Kingdom.
Other critics allege that Tinubu goes to Paris quarterly to plan business strategy with his friend and business partner, Hilbert Chagoury, 79, the Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire entrepreneur who was born to Lebanese immigrant parents in Lagos and lived in Lagos for decades before he retired to the French capital.
In 2024, Tinubu unilaterally awarded the $11 billion contract for the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway to Hitech Construction Limited, owned by Chagoury, without competitive bidding or approval of the National Assembly as required by law.
Chagoury also owns, among others, Eko Hotels and Suites as well as Eko Atlantic City, Nigeria’s most expensive real estate site on Bar Beach, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Tinubu’s first son, Seyi, is reportedly a Director in some of the companies Chagoury owns in Nigeria, allegedly including a ceramics factory – to strengthen the ties between the two families.
With Chagoury living in retirement in Paris, even before Tinubu became Nigeria’s President, he had always been in love with France and visited the country while waiting to be sworn into office on 29 May 2023. France was also his first port of call on assumption of office.
However, Nigerians raise questions about the travels, especially when they have not been reciprocated by French President Emmanuel Macron, not to talk of the cost to the public purse with scarce foreign exchange for economic development.
Below is a tally of Tinubu’s visits to France since he became President, itemised by Daily Trust.
February 2025
Tinubu went on a private visit to France en route Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for a meeting of African Union (AU) Heads of State. He spent seven days in France before going on to the Ethiopian capital.
April 2025
On April 2, the Villa announced that Tinubu would on that day depart for Paris “on a short working visit” to “appraise his administration’s midterm performance and assess key milestones.”
Tinubu’s spokesperson Bayo Onanuga said he would also use “the retreat to review the progress of ongoing reforms and engage in strategic planning ahead of his administration’s second anniversary.
“This period of reflection will inform plans to deepen ongoing reforms and accelerate national development priorities in the coming year.”
Tinubu “will return to Nigeria in about a fortnight,” Onanuga added.
January 2024
In January, Tinubu travelled from Abuja to Paris in what his then-spokesperson Ajuri Ngelale said was a private visit. He spent 14 days.
August 2024
Tinubu left for France on August 19 amid controversy stirred by the court-authorised seizure of Nigeria’s presidential jet by Chinese firm Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment over a dispute with Ogun Government.
He spent four days before returning to Nigeria.
October 2024
On October 2, Tinubu departed Abuja for a two-week working vacation, officially described as part of his yearly leave. First, he went to London, United Kingdom.
From London, his Political Assistant Ibrahim Masari on October 11 announced on his verified X handle, @KabirIbrah64, that Tinubu was heading to Paris from the UK.
November 2024
In November, Tinubu went to France on a state visit with his wife Remi and son Seyi. The visit lasted three days.
June 2023
Some three weeks after he was sworn into office on 29 May 2023, Tinubu jetted off to France for what was supposed to be a two-day summit on the New Global Financial Pact. He spent four days.
September 2023
In September, he left for New York, United States, where he attended the United Nations General Assembly, then detoured to Paris, to “observe a short break.” He spent about five days in France before returning to his duty post in Abuja.
Some Nigerians have weighed in on the foreign travels as follows:
Jide Ojo (development consultant and public affairs analyst)
“Just like former President Muhammadu Buhari had his physician in the UK, I think President Tinubu’s physicians are in France and he may have been going there for medicare long before he became the President of Nigeria.
“Although this current trip is made to look like a working visit, a lot of Nigerians believe it is a ruse meant for Tinubu to attend to himself.
“On the one hand, no President would sit back at home and expect manna to fall from heaven.
“You need to reach out to your counterparts across the world because a country like Nigeria needs help, which can only come from the international community. So, in a sense, it is justified.
“What Nigerians would like to see is credible evidence of the benefits of past visits:
“How have they impacted on our Gross Domestic Product [GDP], national income, portfolio investment from abroad, foreign direct investment from overseas? I think that’s the question the media and the civil society should be asking.
But “If there are burning issues of national concern, should our President be seen abroad? For instance, there is a high level of insecurity in this country. Before the president travelled, the attack on Plateau happened.
“Some world leaders will even because of that return to their country to empathise and sympathise with the victims. But we have not seen that kind of thing happen with our President.
“A hundred people may be killed, yet he will send an emissary to go and condole with the people.
“I think that is not good enough, even though the Constitution does not compel him to go to places to mourn with the people. But under his government, you are not talking of one or two souls. You are talking of dozens of people mauled in cold blood.
“It is not out of place if the President cuts short his visit and goes to Plateau and sympathise with the people and deploys the needed resources to curtail future occurrence. That is how you know leaders who show concern, not this nonchalant attitude.
“If the President is not using this visit to attend to his health, why can’t he reflect in Nigeria? They say he wants to do appraisal of his administration. Does he have to go to France to do that kind of appraisal?
“He can even be in his Lagos home and say he doesn’t want to see anybody. Even in his Abuja office, he can shut out every visitor and attend to issues of national importance.
“Who says we cannot even have a place like Camp David within this country that our President could go to ? We have Obudu Cattle Ranch.
“In two years of the President Bola Tinubu administration, I have not seen him going to visit project sites to assess the level of work being done.
“That is how you know a President that is having eyes on the ground; it is not what your aides are telling you. It is not what the contractors are telling you; it is what you should go and see for yourself.
“I understand that Tinubu is in his 70s and perhaps does not have the agility of a youth, but he asked for this job; and people want to see and feel their President. It is not out of place for him.
“Even if he cannot inspect projects, what stops the President from visiting places like Plateau and Uromi and sympathise with the people following the killings there?
“I know that the reason the President went to France this time around is not entirely to do appraisal. My gut feeling is that he also went to attend to himself.
“But it is about managing information. The handlers didn’t want to say that the President would go and attend to himself so that people don’t start asking if the President is healthy. At least that speculation would not be there, but they are leaving us to speculate.
“But then you ask: why France of all places, to go and reflect and do appraisal? Why not a state in Nigeria that is calm, where he would not be disturbed?”
Timothy Osadolor (Peoples Democratic Party chieftain)
“Many of the foreign trips undertaken by Tinubu are for medical checkups and treatments. He should build world-class health facilities in the country to reduce the trips.
“It has become open to many Nigerians that any time the President jets out of the country, either officially or unofficially, many times it ends up being a medical trip.
“And it is eating into our foreign reserves and affecting our reputation as a country.
“Every year, we see the State House Clinic being budgeted for. The Ministry of Health will submit the budget, but after that, we see the President jetting out for medical assistance. At the end of the day, one is at a loss about what the issues are.
“The President was busy renovating the Presidential Villa with a huge amount of money and buying a yacht. How much do we really need to equip our hospitals for the use of all Nigerians?
“A government that means well for Nigerians should concentrate on the economy and the health of the people.
“I know the President is of age and needs treatment from time to time, but we need to replicate the health equipment here so that Nigerians that cannot travel outside the country can be treated here.
“It is insensitive [for him] to abuse the privilege that God has given to him.
“He should use his opportunity to assist other Nigerians to access easy treatment at home here. Always travelling abroad at the time Nigeria is battling hunger, insecurity and poverty is not good enough.
“If the frequent travels are to market our economy, we have the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that can do that. We have Ministers in charge of the economy and other experts.”
Tinubu (right) shaking hands with Vice President Ibrahim Shettima on arrival from one of his foreign trips with his wife Remi behind him.
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