Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has dismissed weeks of speculation about his health, declaring that he is “healthy, sound and ready to go” after returning to Nigeria on Tuesday evening from a four-week working vacation in Europe that had generated intense public debate and opposition accusations about his prolonged absence from the country.
Tinubu spoke to journalists shortly after his presidential plane landed at the Presidential Wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos at about 6:22 p.m. local time, bringing an end to an absence from Nigeria that began on August 30 and stretched beyond the three weeks initially announced by the Presidency. Asked about concerns raised by some Nigerians and his supporters towards the end of his vacation, Tinubu replied, “Ready to kick, ready to walk. There’s nothing wrong. Rumour will always be emanating from politics, but the facts remain I’m here. Healthy, sound and ready to go”. He said he enjoyed his vacation and remained fully prepared to resume his duties, adding, “I am hale and strong. I am ready to work”.
The return followed a Presidency statement issued earlier on Tuesday by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, who said Tinubu chose to fly to Lagos first to honour the memory of MKO Abiola, the presumed winner of the June 1993 presidential election, on Independence Day. According to the statement, the President will attend the premiere of a movie honouring Abiola at the Wole Soyinka National Theatre in Iganmu, Lagos, and will hold strategic meetings with political leaders and associates over several days in preparation for the 2027 elections before returning to Abuja.
Tinubu’s extended absence had become the centre of a heated political dispute. The President departed Nigeria on August 30 for what the Presidency described as a three-week working vacation, initially travelling to London before proceeding to Paris, France. The Presidency later announced an extension of his stay, saying he remained in touch with developments in Nigeria and continued to direct the affairs of the country while away. During his time in France, Tinubu met French President Emmanuel Macron and businessman Vincent Bolloré, and the Presidency linked his stay to engagements with investors and discussions around major investment projects, including the proposed $7 billion Gateway Deep Sea Port in Ogun State.
The prolonged absence fuelled speculation about the President’s health, with opposition figures questioning why he had stayed abroad for so long and why he had not personally attended the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York. The African Action Congress presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, alleged on Monday during an interview on Arise Television that Tinubu was hospitalised in France and undergoing treatment for an undisclosed ailment, claiming that some of the President’s public appearances were staged to conceal a serious medical condition. “Reliable sources have said Tinubu is undergoing treatment in France,” Sowore said. “Those once-in-a-while appearances are designed to fool the public. They used the same language when Yar’Adua and Buhari were sick and in the hospital for a long time, saying the president can govern from anywhere”. The Presidency had consistently rejected such claims, with Onanuga insisting in a statement on Sunday that Tinubu was “hale and hearty” and that, in the digital age, he did not need to be physically present in Abuja to perform the duties for which he was elected.
The political dispute over the President’s absence also took a legal dimension. The African Action Congress sued Tinubu, the National Assembly and the Attorney-General of the Federation at the Federal High Court in Abuja, alleging that the President breached Section 145(1) of the 1999 Constitution by leaving Nigeria without transmitting a written declaration to the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The party sought a declaration that the failure to transmit the declaration was unconstitutional and sought an order of perpetual injunction restraining Tinubu from embarking on any future vacation without first complying with the constitutional requirement. Section 145(2) provides that where the President fails to transmit the declaration within 21 days, the National Assembly may, by a simple majority of each chamber, mandate the Vice-President to perform the functions of the President as Acting President. The Presidency and Senate President Godswill Akpabio rejected the criticism, with Akpabio insisting that there was no vacancy in Aso Rock and that Tinubu remained fully in charge of the country’s affairs.
The President’s return comes amid heightened political activity ahead of the 2027 general elections, scheduled for January 16, with the governorship and state assembly elections following on February 6. Tinubu is seeking a second term on the All Progressives Congress platform, while former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the African Democratic Congress, former Anambra Governor Peter Obi of the Nigeria Democratic Congress and Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde of the Allied Peoples Movement are among the major challengers. The President is expected to remain in Lagos for the 66th Independence Anniversary celebrations on October 1 before returning to Abuja. His return marks the end of an absence that had dominated national discourse for weeks and that had raised questions not only about his health but about the constitutional framework governing presidential absence from office. Whether the health rumours will fade now that he is back on Nigerian soil, or whether they will persist as an issue in the 2027 campaign, will depend on how the Presidency addresses the questions that have been raised and whether the President’s public engagements in the coming weeks put the speculation to rest. For now, Tinubu has made his position clear: he is healthy, sound and ready to go.
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