By Spear News Nigeria
The Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign has alleged that President Bola Tinubu is deliberately avoiding the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) because he is evading a possible arrest by United States President Donald Trump.
Kenneth Okonkwo, a spokesperson for the campaign, made the claim on Wednesday during an appearance on Arise News, where he accused the President of hiding rather than representing Nigeria on the global stage.
Okonkwo questioned why Tinubu has not appeared in person at any UNGA session since taking office, insisting that a reasonable observer would conclude the President is dodging the United States.
“Onanuga is there saying what he does not know, and the President is somewhere hiding. Maybe because he does not want the Venezuela option, because he ought to be at the UNGA in person,” he said.
He further stressed the President’s prolonged absence from the global summit.
“What is he doing? He has not been to the United Nations for three consecutive years. A reasonable man should say that he is hiding from the United States of America.”
Okonkwo also took aim at Nigeria’s ambassador to the United Nations, Jimoh Ibrahim, recalling that he had earlier assured Nigerians that Tinubu would attend and sit in the front row alongside President Trump.
“Remember, the ambassador to the United Nations, Jimoh Ibrahim, had told us gleefully that the President was going to come and sit in the front row with President Trump to represent us. What happened? Lies. The President did not go.”
He then drew a connection between Trump’s hardened stance on drug trafficking and the President’s alleged legal troubles in the US.
“But there is a nexus. How come President Trump said anybody who is involved in drug trafficking would be taken and put in jail? The Venezuelan president is in jail because of that.”
Okonkwo went on to reference a court filing and a past plea bargain, which he described as fact rather than allegation.
“Now, how come there is a paper filed by your President that he does not want his file to be released in the United States of America? That is allegedly for his involvement in alleged drug dealing, and, of course, we all know that he paid $460,000 in a plea bargain. That is not an allegation. That is a fact.”
He concluded by tying the threads together, maintaining that the President’s absence points to a clear motive.
“That one has been sorted out, and they say that was in order to assuage his involvement in narcotic trading and trafficking after his deposition. So, there is a nexus here, and every reasonable man will say he is running away from the United States of America.”
The allegations remain unverified.
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