Tinubu Travelled To UK To Avoid Political Interference With Cabinet Reshuffle, Says LP Ex-Chief

A former Presidential spokesperson and former Labour Party chieftain, Dr Doyin Okupe, says Nigerians criticising President Bola Tinubu’s trip to the United Kingdom for a two-week holiday are uninformed.

Okupe expressed the view in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) on Thursday in Lagos.

He spoke against the backdrop of criticisms of the President travelling abroad for vacation instead of staying in the country.

The former Director-General of Peter Obi’s Presidential Campaign said: “I have read many uninformed criticisms of the President’s holiday trip abroad.

“Personally, from my understanding of how Presidents behave in periods of national crisis, I believe the President has willfully separated himself from officials, friends and associates to reflect and review the last 17 months and chart a new way forward for his administration.

“At the same time, it is to carefully avoid undue interference from political associates, in his thought process to rejig his cabinet.

“Staying anywhere in Nigeria definitely will not afford him such a peaceful and serene atmosphere to achieve his objective,”

He expressed the belief that the President’s return after “this retreat” would signal good tidings for the people of Nigeria and bring about the much-needed comfort and succour for our teeming masses.

Tinubu departed Abuja on Oct. 2 for the United Kingdom to begin a two-week vacation.

A statement by Mr Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President, Information and Strategy, said the President would use the two weeks as a working vacation and a retreat to reflect on his administration’s economic reforms.

It is the first time President Tinubu will go on leave since he assumed office in May 2023, though he had embarked on several foreign trips between then and now.