Bayo Onanuga, a senior member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), has stated that President-elect Bola Tinubu can rule Nigeria from Russia after being sworn in on May 29, 2023.
Onanuga, a member of the Presidential Transition Council’s Media Subcommittee, revealed this during a weekend interview with journalists.
Onanuga said he believed Tinubu, who had just left the country due to alleged pressure, would settle fully in Nigeria and face the challenges ahead when sworn in.
However, the president-elect’s spokesperson made an exception, stating that because we live in a global world, Tinubu can rule Nigeria even if he is in Russia.
I believe he would do so. But you know we now live in a global village, as they say. So, even if he is in Russia, he can hold Zoom meetings and do all kinds of things. But I can assure you that he will be here physically to do his job. He will not be an absentee kind of president, Onanuga said.
Speaking further on why the president-elect jetted out of the country days ahead of his swearing-in, Onanuga reiterated that it was to avoid distraction.
He refuted the speculations by some Nigerians that Tinubu may rule Nigeria from London like President Muhammadu Buhari at a certain time.
No, that won’t happen. You cannot imagine the kind of pressure people who are looking for positions in the government are piling on ordinary committee members, not to talk of the president-elect. People have been bringing all manner of requests. So, as the press release rightly pointed out, the travel was just to avoid pressure and distraction, the APC chieftain said.
Onanuga explained why Tinubu did not attend the Lesser Hajj in Saudi Arabia as planned shortly after the 2023 general elections, saying that the President-elect truly intended to travel for the Hajj as part of his plan to visit three countries but decided to cut off from some later.
WITHIN NIGERIA understands that when Tinubu left the country following the election, his aides and top APC leaders confirmed that he would travel to three countries: France (Paris), the United Kingdom, and then Saudi Arabia for the lesser hajj.
Tinubu, however, only went to Paris. Clarifying the development, Onanuga said Tinubu “Wanted to go to London to see his grandchildren, but I think that at the last minute, he decided not to go. He came back home instead.
“Also, he was in Saudi Arabia before the elections, so he decided not to go there again. So he decided to cut those ones and then decided to come home,” Onanuga told Daily Trust.
He also refuted some Nigerians’ speculation that Tinubu did not go to Saudi Arabia and London as planned because he was sick, emphasizing that the President-elect simply decided not to go.
Onanuga was the Director of Media and Publicity for the defunct APC Presidential Campaign Council, which worked to elect Tinubu and Senator Kashim Shettima as president-elect and vice-president-elect, respectively.