While Nigeria Burns, the President Zooms In

Once again, the Nigerian people are expected to accept the unacceptable. We are told—without irony—that President Bola Tinubu is “working remotely” from Europe while the nation he was elected to lead is engulfed in bloodshed and trauma. For nearly two weeks, our Commander-in-Chief has been absent from our soil, issuing directives from Paris and London, while communities in Plateau, Benue, and beyond mourn their dead and brace for the next round of violence.

The Presidency, in its now-familiar tone of polished detachment, assures us that the President is “fully engaged” and in “constant communication with key government officials.” But governance is not a remote operation. It is not a matter of Zoom calls and overseas communiqués. Nigeria is not a start-up to be managed from a co-working space in Mayfair. It is a country on fire. And leadership—real, human, accountable leadership—cannot be outsourced.

We are told that “governance proceeds without interruption.” But Nigerians feel that interruption daily—in the thundering silence that follows every massacre, in the absence of justice for the dead, in the refusal to name or confront the architects of terror. What we are witnessing is not leadership in motion—it is the abdication of duty, dressed up as diplomacy.

The country is reeling. Insecurity has become our national anthem. From the Middle Belt to the far North, from farms to schoolyards, blood has become cheaper than oil. And still, our president is nowhere to be found—at least not where it matters. His absence is not just physical; it is symbolic. It speaks of a political class so estranged from the pain of the people that they believe governance is a performance to be managed, not a responsibility to be lived.

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Labour Party’s Peter Obi have rightly raised the alarm. But this is not a partisan grievance—it is a national one. This is not about political rivalry—it is about moral accountability.

The truth is this: Nigeria cannot be governed by proxy. Not when families are digging graves. Not when children are dying from bullets and hunger. Not when whole communities are reduced to rubble while our leaders sip imported wine in European halls of power.

We cannot stabilize a collapsing house from the rooftop. The work must be done in the foundations—in the field, among the people, in the anguish and urgency of now.

We, the Nigerian people, deserve more than press statements. We deserve presence. We deserve protection. We deserve leadership that does not hide behind holiday schedules and vague “working visits.”

Therefore, as a matter of urgency, the following must be done:

• A full and transparent disclosure of the reason for the President’s prolonged stay abroad;

• An immediate return and on-ground response from the President to the regions ravaged by violence;

• A coordinated and well-funded humanitarian intervention in the most affected areas;

• And a reawakening of our institutions to act in service of the people—not the powerful.

This is not a time for public relations. This is a time for reckoning.

The Nigerian people are not orphans. We will not be reduced to a nation governed by remote control. The country cannot be stabilized from the comfort of European suites while the soil back home is soaked in blood.

We deserve a president who shows up—not one who logs in.

Nigeria is not a virtual project. It is a living, bleeding body in need of urgent care. And it is long past time for our leaders to come home—not just in person, but in purpose.

LaBode Obanor

Political Commentator | Social Justice Advocate | Writer

April 7, 2025

Abuja & Washington, DC

The views expressed in this essay are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the League for Social Justice.