Where Is the President?” Peter Obi Seeks Prayers for Tinubu’s Return
Where Is the President?” — Peter Obi Calls for Prayers for Tinubu’s Return Amid Prolonged Absence From Nigeria and UNGA
Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has called on Nigerians to keep praying for President Bola Tinubu’s safe return and for his leadership, after publicly questioning the president’s prolonged absence from the country and from the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Obi made the call in a post on his X handle on Sunday, 27 September 2026, after watching an address by Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama at the UN gathering, according to statements issued by his spokesperson, Idris Zekeri Jnr.
Obi described Mahama’s speech as a demonstration of what leadership can achieve when ‘competence, capacity, compassion, commitment and character come together in the service of a nation’, and used the occasion to press the question that has dominated Nigerian political discussion for days.
‘Where is the President?’
‘Where is the President of Africa’s most populous nation, a country of more than 200 million people — more than Ghana — whose leader has been absent from the global stage for three consecutive UNGAs?’ Obi asked.
Tinubu Doesn’t Need To Be In Nigeria To Work — Presidency
‘Nigeria’s President, who ought to be representing and guiding the continent at the international level, has not attended any of these three global gatherings,’ he said, adding: ‘Where is he, particularly at a time when the country faces significant challenges both domestically and internationally?’
Vice-President Kashim Shettima led Nigeria’s delegation to the 81st UNGA in New York and delivered the national statement on the president’s behalf. Obi acknowledged his presence but said it did not resolve the underlying question.
‘Although our Vice President, Kashim Shettima, was present, the question remains: where is the President?’ he said.
He concluded: ‘Let us continue to pray for his return and for his leadership in addressing the many challenges confronting the nation,’ while expressing hope that ‘a New Nigeria is possible’.
Tinubu departed Nigeria on 30 August for what the Presidency described as a three-week working vacation in Europe as part of his annual leave. He travelled first to London and later to Paris, where the State House said he met French President Emmanuel Macron and businessman Vincent Bolloré. On 21 September, the Presidency announced he had extended his stay by a few days and would return that weekend.
That return did not take place. The itinerary was changed again, with presidency sources subsequently indicating he would be back on Tuesday, 29 September.
Presidency pushes back
Presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga rejected Obi’s intervention. In a post on X late on Sunday, the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy said Tinubu was ‘hale and hearty’ and entitled to a working vacation.
‘Yet Peter Obi pretends to be unaware of President Tinubu’s whereabouts and asks the puerile question his followers are asking on X,’ Onanuga wrote, according to accounts carried by Nigerian media.
Onanuga argued that, in the digital age, the president ‘does not need to be physically present in Abuja to do the work for which he was elected in 2023’, citing Tinubu’s meetings with investors in France and a reported $7 billion deep-sea port project in Ogun Waterside, an initiative of the Ogun State Government.
He also compared Tinubu’s absence from the UN gathering with the non-attendance of the South African and Egyptian presidents, saying neither case had generated similar controversy. He said Tinubu had delegated UNGA attendance to ‘his able and dependable Vice President’.
Constitutional questions
The length of the president’s stay abroad has prompted debate over the constitutional arrangements governing executive authority in his absence, particularly because both the president and the vice-president were outside the country at the same time.
Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution provides that when the president proceeds on vacation or is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of office, he is to transmit a written declaration to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, after which the vice-president performs the functions of the president in an acting capacity.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) Presidential Campaign Council called on the Presidency to give Nigerians ‘a clear and transparent explanation’ of Tinubu’s whereabouts and who was exercising presidential authority while he was away. In a statement signed by its Director of Media and Publicity, Kola Ologbondiyan, the council said the office of the president is ‘a public trust’.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio said there was no vacancy in Aso Rock, maintaining that Tinubu remained in charge of the country’s affairs despite his absence.
The Presidency has said Tinubu continued to receive briefings and issue directives from abroad. Secretary to the Government of the Federation George Akume represented him at certain official functions while both he and Shettima were out of the country.
Return expected Tuesday
Presidency sources say Tinubu is expected to land at the presidential wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos on Tuesday, where Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu is due to receive him.
He is expected to remain in Lagos through Thursday, 1 October, to mark Nigeria’s 66th Independence Anniversary and deliver a national broadcast. It would be the second consecutive year he has observed Independence Day in Lagos. The Federal Government has announced a public lecture for 30 September as part of the anniversary programme.
Obi, a former governor of Anambra State and the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in 2023, has remained a prominent opposition voice since the last general election. Nigerian media describe him as the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress ahead of the 2027 polls.