•Tinubu
Former Presidential Aide, Laolu Akande, has said while the directive for the military high command to relocate to Borno State over last week’s attacks was commendable, President Bola Tinubu missed the opportunity of prioritising empathy and showing sympathy at a time of renewed terrorist attacks in the North-East.
At least 23 people were killed and 108 injured when suspected suicide bombers struck in three locations across Maiduguri, Borno State capital, reports Sunday Trust.
A post office, a popular weekly market and the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital were hit within minutes of each other.
The attacks happened on the eve of the historic UK State visit.
Tinubu had issued a statement in which Service Chiefs were directed to relocate to Maiduguri to take control of the situation.
Hours after, he jetted out of the country with his family members and senior cabinet members.
In a statement, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, spokesman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), faulted timing of the trip and asked Tinubu to return home immediately.
“Moments like this demand the full and undivided attention of the nation’s leadership. It is therefore troubling that the President is currently outside the country at a time when such a serious attack on national security occurred,” Abdullahi had said.
Speaking on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande on Channels Television on Friday, Akande questioned the optics and timing of Tinubu’s UK trip.
“Even if President Bola Ahmed Tinubu couldn’t reschedule his date with the British Royals at a time terrorists were killing Nigerians, attacking our soldiers and suicide bombers resurging terror in Borno, could he not have done something that would represent a form of reassurance to the people of Borno and the entire Nigerians before he jetted out from Abuja to London on Tuesday?” Akande asked.
“It’s just a question. What could be the options? Number one, couldn’t he have done a quick stopover in Maiduguri before going to London on the same day that he left? Or, at the barest minimum, the president could have left his voice in a direct personal message to the Nigerian people that can be broadcast showing him his body language sympathising with the pain and destruction that we have seen, including the one that we saw an ad of in Maiduguri on Monday, just a few days ago.
“But this is not to say the president utterly ignored the situation. That’s not what I’m saying. Because indeed, he directed the military high command to relocate to Borno, which they have done quite promptly,” he stated.
However, the former aide argued that beyond military deployments and security directives, leadership must also project empathy and solidarity with citizens in times of grief.
“However, this is my point, and it’s a general one. We seem to have become desensitised and we are denying aspects of our common humanity. It seems we are getting used to the recurrent series of death and destruction from terrorists, from bandits, and various forms of extreme violence.”
According to him, the frequency of attacks across the country risks normalising tragedy in the public consciousness, with leaders appearing emotionally distant from the suffering of the people.
“Many of our people are suffering in various parts of the country. It’s like we have been desensitised, and the world is watching us as we are watching ourselves,” he said.
Akande also raised concerns about the global perception of Nigeria at a time when the President and a large delegation were in London for official engagements.
“The sad truth is that with all the glamour and the glitz that we have seen these couple of days in London, the global audience and the local audience is also being reminded of the horror, of the terror confronting Nigerians and the Nigerian government here in Abuja,” he said.
He questioned how the international community might interpret the contrast between diplomatic ceremonies abroad and insecurity at home.
“And people of goodwill and those who put more value on human life around the world, they must be wondering how our leaders, that is Nigerian leaders, managed to brand themselves and brand the country on a global scene, choosing to wine and dine in London while their own people, the reason they are entrusted with power, are suffering under oral pain and the angst of unrelenting terrorism.
“We are watching ourselves and the world is watching us. We are causing the people of the world and people of our own nation to wonder, what kind of people are we? What has happened to us?”
Akande further criticised what he described as the “excesses” of the presidential delegation to the United Kingdom.
“Look at the excesses of this UK for instance. Several state governors, tonnes of ministers and aides, accompanied the president and the first lady, when clearly not all of them have definite roles to play in the state visits, besides just showing up and join in the alluring aroma as if the whole thing is a shindig,” he said.
While acknowledging the importance of diplomacy and international engagement, Akande maintained that such trips must be balanced with strong symbolic and emotional leadership at home — especially when lives are being lost.
