Former Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Prof. Bola Akinterinwa, has suggested that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s absence from this year’s United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) could be a calculated decision to avoid potential embarrassment from US President Donald Trump.
Tinubu was represented at the 80th UNGA session in New York by Vice President Kashim Shettima, who delivered Nigeria’s address on his behalf.
Speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Friday, Akinterinwa said Tinubu’s absence might have been part of a deliberate strategy.
“At the level of Donald Trump, Donald Trump is an unpredictable president. He thinks after action, but he does not think well before action. He is a president who can thoroughly embarrass our own president, find unnecessary excuses because Nigeria appears to be towing a sort of independentist line in international affairs,” Akinterinwa explained.
He argued that Trump, who likes to assert dominance on the global stage, may not take kindly to Nigeria’s more independent foreign policy stance.
“Donald Trump doesn’t like this. Donald Trump wants to be seen as the primus inter pares in international relations,” the former NIIA DG added.
Despite his analysis, Akinterinwa noted that it would have been “ideal” for Tinubu to attend the global summit to avoid speculation about his absence.
“If he’s there, in which way are you going to say that Donald Trump is better than Ahmed Tinubu of Nigeria? He’s not. Tinubu is as intelligent, if not more intelligent, than Donald Trump. He’s more cautious. He’s more strategic in his approach,” Akinterinwa said.
“But when you are absent, you give room for unnecessary speculations.”
In his speech delivered by Shettima, President Tinubu urged the UN to embrace sweeping reforms or risk growing irrelevance as world events increasingly bypass its influence.
“The UN’s credibility is being undermined by the gulf between its words and its deeds,” Tinubu said, warning that key global conversations were shifting outside the UN halls.
He also reiterated Nigeria’s call for permanent membership of the UN Security Council, while highlighting the country’s economic transformation agenda as a model for developing nations.
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