Spokesperson for the Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign, Kenneth Okonkwo, has alleged that President Bola Tinubu is avoiding the United States because of renewed attention to historical drug-related allegations and legal records involving him.
Okonkwo made the claim while reacting to Tinubu’s absence from the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, where Vice President Kashim Shettima is representing Nigeria.
The absence marks the third consecutive year Tinubu has delegated the responsibility to his deputy.
Tinubu attended the 78th UNGA in 2023 but was represented by Shettima in 2024 and 2025.
Speaking on Arise News, Okonkwo questioned the reason for the President’s continued absence from the gathering and alleged that Tinubu was deliberately staying away from the United States because of concerns over possible legal action. “A reasonable man should say that he’s hiding from the United States of America,” Okonkwo said, further alleging that Tinubu was “running away from being arrested by Trump.”
Okonkwo also referred to reports that Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Jimoh Ibrahim, had previously indicated that Tinubu would attend the UNGA and sit in the front row with US President Donald Trump.
He questioned why the President did not eventually travel to New York, particularly given the importance of the annual diplomatic gathering.
Okonkwo further linked Tinubu’s absence to renewed attention surrounding historical US records and a 1993 civil forfeiture proceeding involving about $460,000, while alleging that a legal filing sought to prevent the release of US records concerning Tinubu.
The Presidency has rejected the suggestion that the historical US matter amounts to a criminal case against Tinubu.
Presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, had earlier said that the issue concerns a civil records-disclosure dispute under the United States Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), stressing that it is “not a criminal case against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu” and that no court had found him guilty of criminal wrongdoing.
The historical forfeiture proceeding and the current litigation over access to government records are separate matters.
The controversy comes amid wider political debate over Tinubu’s repeated absence from the UNGA.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has also called on the Presidency to explain the President’s absence, while stressing that he was not claiming Tinubu was legally barred from entering the United States.
The Presidency has maintained that there is no US travel restriction preventing Tinubu from visiting the country, saying the President is on a working vacation and continues to direct government affairs while Shettima represents Nigeria at the UNGA.
