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May 7, 2024
SaharaReporters last Thursday exclusively reported Tinubu’s unannounced trip to Paris, France which sources confirmed was for medical reasons.
President Bola Tinubu will return to Abuja, Nigeria's Federal Capital Territory, on Wednesday over a week after the end of his official engagement in Saudi Arabia.
Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to President Tinubu on Information and Strategy disclosed this in a tweet on Tuesday.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, along with his aides, will return to Nigeria tomorrow from Europe,” he posted.
SaharaReporters last Thursday exclusively reported Tinubu’s unannounced trip to Paris, France which sources confirmed was for medical reasons.
“The President is in France to see his doctors,” a source had said.
Before Onanuga’s post, the silence of the presidency on the President’s unofficial trip to France had revived raging debates over concerns and secrecy on the President’s state of health.
An investigation by SaharaReporters had revealed that a Nigerian presidential aircraft, a Gulfstream Aerospace GV-SP (G550) with registration number 5N-FGW and serial number 5310 (Mode-S 0640F2) with Tinubu onboard arrived at Paris Airport-Le Bourget, France around 04:00 pm last Thursday from an airport in London.
The President last Tuesday morning left Saudi Arabia - where he attended the World Economic Forum - for London.
A statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale weeks ago announced that the special World Economic Forum meeting to be attended by President Tinubu in Riyadh would end on Monday, April 29.
“After his engagements in the Netherlands, President Tinubu will proceed to attend a special World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting scheduled for April 28-29 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,” the statement had read.
Meanwhile, in the statement, the Presidency carefully left out information about when Tinubu was expected back in Nigeria after the international forum or that he would visit the UK and France after leaving Saudi Arabia.
Also, the Presidency was silent on President Tinubu's whereabouts from when the international summit ended in Saudi Arabia on Monday, April 29 till May 7, when the presidential aide, Onanuga, announced that the President would return on Wednesday, May 8.
SaharaReporters learnt that the 5N-FGW (Gulfstream Aerospace) which was operated as Nigerian Air Force 1 - meaning the President was on board - left Riyadh International Airport on Tuesday, April 30 at 12:05 am (02:05 am Saudi Arabian time) and arrived at Stansted Airport, London at 06:35 am, UK time.
The jet was used to replace the Boeing Business Jet (Boeing 737-700) 5N-FGT that is still in Germany for repairs.
Last weekend, some Nigerians took to social media to demand the whereabouts of Tinubu who had not been seen in public since he met with Microsoft Founder and Philanthropist, Bill Gates at the World Economic Forum Special Meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia last Sunday, April 28.
The President who was supposed to address Nigerian civil servants on May 1, International Workers’ Day, was nowhere in sight.
Also, the President didn’t attend the last Federal Executive Council, FEC meeting.
Meanwhile, some Nigerians have declared the President Absent Without Official Leave (AWOL).
They asked why Tinubu had refused to return to Nigeria after the WEF meeting ended in Saudi Arabia last Monday.