President Bola Tinubu has departed Lagos for Europe ahead of his scheduled official visit to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, despite growing concerns over insecurity across the country.
According to a statement released on Sunday by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the President will participate in the 2026 Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW 2026) Summit at the invitation of the UAE President, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
The week-long summit, slated for early January, will bring together global leaders from government, business, and civil society to discuss strategies for advancing sustainable development worldwide.
The 2026 edition of the summit is themed “The Nexus of Next: All Systems Go” and is expected to connect ambition with action across innovation, finance, and human capital, while highlighting pathways for global progress.
President Tinubu is expected to return to Nigeria after the summit.
Meanwhile, the opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC) has criticized the president over his frequent foreign trips, accusing him of neglecting pressing domestic challenges.
In a statement issued by the party’s spokesperson, Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC said the president’s travel comes at a troubling time, as the country grapples with renewed insecurity, including a deadly bomb blast in Zamfara State and rising public anxiety following reports of a U.S. military strike on Nigerian soil.
Abdullahi noted that Nigerians were still waiting for reassurance from the president when news of his trip broke.
“In the wake of yet another deadly bomb blast in Zamfara, to which the President has not said a single word; on the back of an unprecedented foreign military attack on Nigerian soil; right in the middle of all the uncertainty it has provoked; with a confused and scared nation waiting for the President to speak to us and assure us that all is well, the next thing we hear is that the President has gone on holiday. What a president,” the statement read.
