Media Adviser to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Paul Ibe, has questioned reports that President Bola Tinubu will not attend the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
Ibe raised the questions in a post on his X handle on Saturday.
According to him, the reported decision is becoming harder to dismiss as an ordinary change of travel plans, given recent diplomatic efforts by the administration.
He said for months, the Tinubu administration has invested political and financial capital to improve its standing in Washington, including a reported $9 million lobbying arrangement aimed at countering narratives about Nigeria, and engagements by senior officials including National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu with the American establishment.
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Ibe also cited a proposed Nigeria-US mining agreement which government sources had indicated would be advanced around UNGA.
“Then came the retreat,” he said, adding that there is also unresolved litigation in the United States under the Freedom of Information Act, FOIA, seeking the release of US law-enforcement records concerning President Tinubu.
Ibe claimed that President Tinubu has filed litigation to block the release of those documents, and linked it to the current US administration’s focus on drug trafficking and transnational cartels.
He referenced the White House’s 2026 National Drug Control Strategy which he said speaks about dismantling cartels and pursuing foreign narcotics networks.
Ibe asked why the President would reportedly stay away from UNGA after the lobbying and diplomatic engagements and the reported deals.
“After the millions spent on lobbying, the diplomatic ground-softening and the public boasting about deals supposedly ready for signature, why is President Tinubu reportedly staying away from UNGA? What happened between the celebration and the cancellation? Were the meetings the Presidency expected in New York and Washington actually secured? Is the much-advertised mining arrangement proceeding as announced?” he queried.
He further asked whether controversy surrounding the FOIA litigation has become an obstacle to high-level engagements with Washington.
Ibe said the Presidency should provide disclosure on the reasons for the reported change of plans.
“Instead of propaganda, Nigerians deserve disclosure. Instead of expensive image laundering, let the records speak. And instead of telling Nigerians that everything is normal, the Presidency should explain why, after all the lobbying, all the diplomatic exertions and all the advance celebration of American deals, the President is reportedly no longer going where all that groundwork was supposed to matter most,” he said.
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