“Nigeria Is Burning And The President Chose A Boarding Pass” — Atiku Slams Tinubu’s 3-Week Europe Vacation

Former Vice President and ADC Presidential Candidate Atiku Abubakar has condemned President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s three-week vacation to Europe, saying Nigeria may not be facing a constitutional vacuum but is suffering a disturbing vacuum of political leadership.

President Tinubu departed Abuja on Sunday, August 30, 2026, for London to begin his annual leave. The announcement was made by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.

In a statement on Sunday, Atiku said he has never hidden the fact that he has travelled, lived and spent time abroad, but noted that there is a fundamental difference between the travels of a private citizen and the responsibility of a sitting President of Nigeria.

Atiku said President Tinubu is leaving behind a country battling severe hardship. He listed petrol priced beyond the reach of ordinary people, families rationing food, transport fares that have turned a journey to one’s own village into a luxury, and insecurity that buries Nigerians week after week.

He questioned the timing of the vacation, especially with the Vice President also abroad on official duty. According to Atiku, leadership is not merely the constitutional right to occupy an office, but the judgment to know when the country needs the President at home.

Atiku likened the situation to a father whose roof is burning and family trapped inside, saying such a father does not pick up his suitcase and head for the airport. He said the issue is not that a President must never rest or travel, but that Nigeria is burning and the President has chosen a boarding pass over a fire extinguisher.

He added that millions of Nigerians are being grounded by hardship while their President is airborne, stressing that the people can barely afford to move but the President keeps moving.

Atiku warned that a government that cannot feel the pain it inflicts will never summon the will to end it. He concluded with a campaign message ahead of the January 2027 general election, saying Tinubu made Nigeria expensive and he will make it affordable again.