President Bola Tinubu's brief stop in Jos on Thursday, where he addressed citizens affected by recent violence in Plateau State from the airport, has drawn sharp criticism from former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi. Obi described the move as "irresponsible" and lacking compassion, comparing it to Tinubu's June 2025 visit to Benue State, during which the President remained at Government House without visiting attack sites. "During his visit to Benue State in June 2025, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu stopped at the Government House but did not go to the actual scene where innocent Nigerians lost their lives. Similarly, yesterday in Jos, his engagement ended at the airport instead of at the affected communities," Obi said in a statement on Friday. He condemned what he called a pattern of "distant leadership," arguing that true leadership requires empathy, presence, and direct engagement with victims. The Presidency, through Special Adviser Bayo Onanuga, defended the visit, stating Tinubu's schedule began with hosting Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno in Abuja and that "the President achieved the purpose of his visit." Obi rejected the explanation, insisting that for grieving families, an airport address is "profoundly inadequate." He warned the approach deepens the sense of abandonment among communities enduring repeated violence without protection or justice. "Plateau deserves more than distant words; it requires urgent action and a clear commitment to ending the insecurity that continues to claim innocent lives," Obi said.
A president who speaks to grieving families from an airport tarmac, as Bola Tinubu did in Jos, signals detachment, not leadership. Peter Obi's critique exposes not just a logistical choice but a pattern—Benue in June 2025, Plateau now—where presence is substituted with protocol. For Nigerians in Jos or Gboko, this reinforces the belief that their pain is secondary to the presidency's schedule. Symbolic visits without engagement change nothing on the ground.
