Peter Obi has publicly rebuked President Bola Tinubu for receiving victims of the Palm Sunday attack in Plateau State at the airport instead of visiting the affected communities. In a post on X on Friday, Obi described the move as lacking empathy and said true leadership demands physical presence where people are suffering. He referenced the attack in Angwan Rukuba, Jos North Local Government Area, which occurred on Palm Sunday and left at least 27 people dead. "For citizens who have just lost loved ones, homes, and their sense of safety, being addressed from an airport tarmac is profoundly inadequate," Obi said. He also pointed to Tinubu's 2025 visit to Benue State, where the President did not travel to attack sites, as evidence of a recurring pattern. Obi argued that such actions deepen the feeling of abandonment among Nigerians affected by persistent violence. The Presidency has defended the decision, citing logistical challenges at the airport as the reason Tinubu could not travel further into the affected areas. Critics maintain that the choice reflects a growing disconnect between the presidency and citizens enduring recurring violence. Plateau State has long experienced cycles of communal and sectarian clashes tied to ethnic, religious and land disputes.
Meeting grieving families on an airport tarmac while citing logistics sends a message that could harden public perception of Tinubu's empathy deficit. Obi's critique gains force because it mirrors similar criticism after the Benue visit—this is not an isolated misstep. When a president avoids blood-soaked ground in favour of sterile terminals, it feeds the narrative that leadership is increasingly detached from real pain. For Nigerians in Plateau and beyond, another condolence tour without boots on the ground may just register as performance, not presence.
