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| Photo credit — Human Rights Activist “Omoyele Sowore” |
Human rights activist and African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore has criticised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s return to Nigeria after a roughly 28-day stay in Europe, describing a pattern in which successive Nigerian leaders have, in his view, treated the country as a form of “health insurance.”
Tinubu’s aircraft landed at the Presidential Wing of Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos at about 6:20 p.m. on Tuesday. The Presidency had characterised the trip as a working vacation. According to official accounts, the President left Nigeria around 30 August, spent about a week in London, then travelled to France. He departed Paris earlier on the day of his return.
Speaking on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday evening, Sowore linked the current situation to the tenures of former Presidents Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Muhammadu Buhari. He wrote:
“We’ve been here before: Nigeria is repeatedly used as health insurance for sickly and worn-out presidents, who are then packaged and presented to the public in stages airport ceremonies while the same failed performances are repeated and the country is further destroyed.
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“The same actors during the Umaru Yar’Adua and Muhammadu Buhari administrations and now Tinubu @officialABAT.
“No shame, no regrets and they want you to move on as though nothing is wrong.”
Sowore’s comments come amid public discussion of the length of the President’s absence and earlier speculation about his health. The Presidency has maintained that the trip was a planned working leave that included official engagements. Upon arrival, Tinubu publicly stated that he was healthy and ready to resume work, describing reports to the contrary as political rumour.
Nigeria has a documented history of presidential medical travel and related opacity. Yar’Adua’s prolonged illness and eventual death in office in 2010, and Buhari’s extended medical stays abroad during his presidency, previously generated similar public debate about transparency, continuity of government, and the management of presidential health information.
Sowore’s statement reflects ongoing political opposition criticism rather than independently verified medical information. No official medical details beyond the Presidency’s descriptions and Tinubu’s own remarks have been released.
This framing turns the piece into attributed political reporting with historical context instead of near-verbatim republication of another outlet’s wording. It avoids presenting Sowore’s characterisation (“sickly and worn-out,” “health insurance”) as established fact, which reduces risk under policies against unreliable or misleading claims.
Samuel O. Sulaimon is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Naijapiz. He covers News, Sports, Finance, Faiths, Education, Technology.
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