UNGA: Atiku challenges Tinubu as Shettima leads delegation

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has questioned President Bola Tinubu’s decision to stay away from the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York, as Vice President Kashim Shettima travelled to the United States to lead Nigeria’s delegation to the annual gathering.

Atiku, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, on Sunday, described Tinubu’s absence as his third consecutive absence from the UNGA since 2024 and demanded an explanation from the President.

The criticism followed the Presidency’s announcement that Tinubu had mandated Shettima to represent him at the General Assembly, where the Vice President is expected to deliver Nigeria’s national statement and participate in high-level and bilateral meetings.

The announcement ended weeks of speculation over whether Tinubu would personally attend the annual gathering of world leaders.

Nigeria’s envoy to the United Nations, Amb Jimoh Ibrahim, had in July said the President would personally attend the 81st UNGA, saying that provisions had been made for him to sit close to Donald Trump, his American counterpart.

But Tinubu departed Abuja for a three-week vacation in Europe on August 30, with London as his first destination, before proceeding to France.

In a statement issued on Sunday by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications, Office of the Vice President, Stanley Nkwocha, the Presidency said Shettima would lead the Nigerian delegation.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has mandated Vice President Kashim Shettima to represent him and lead Nigeria’s delegation to the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly, UNGA, in New York, United States.

“VP Shettima will lead a high-level delegation comprising Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State; Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State; ministers and other senior government officials,” the statement said.

The 81st UNGA General Debate is scheduled for September 22 to 28, 2026, under the theme, “Restoring trust, managing transformation: A United Nations that delivers for all.”

At the General Debate, the statement said: “Shettima will deliver Nigeria’s national statement, outlining the country’s position and priorities on major global issues with implications for national development, peace and security, economic growth and international cooperation.”

It added, “The Vice President will also participate in high-level meetings during the UNGA week, including engagements on the Right to Development, climate action and other issues of strategic importance to Nigeria and the African continent.

“Senator Shettima is also expected to join other world leaders at the traditional reception for Heads of Delegation and participate in a series of bilateral meetings with leaders of other countries, international organisations and development partners on the sidelines of the General Assembly.”

According to the statement, the engagements would provide Nigeria with an opportunity to advance Tinubu’s economic diplomacy, deepen strategic partnerships and strengthen the country’s voice on reform of the global financial architecture, sustainable development, climate finance and multilateral cooperation.

The Vice President is expected to return to Nigeria at the conclusion of his engagements in New York.

Speaking on the development, Amb Ibrahim assured that the country would be adequately represented despite Tinubu’s absence.

Ibrahim said more than 60 per cent of those listed to speak at the ongoing UNGA were being represented by either their vice presidents or foreign ministers.

In a statement issued on Sunday by the Nigerian Mission to the United Nations in New York and posted on his Facebook page, he said Nigeria would retain its designated position at the UNGA, including its front-row seat, with Vice President Shettima representing Tinubu.

Ibrahim, who is also Chairman of the UN Committee on Budget and Administration, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, and other senior government officials would join Shettima at the high-level session.

According to him, it was not unusual for countries to delegate representation to senior government officials when their presidents were unable to attend.

“The Vice President and the Minister of Foreign Affairs are adequately positioned to represent Nigeria at the General Assembly and participate fully in the diplomatic engagements surrounding the session.”

The envoy said Tinubu would not personally attend the session because he was currently in France on annual leave.

“The absence of the President should not be interpreted as Nigeria being inadequately represented. Our delegation will continue to participate fully in the proceedings,” he said.

Ibrahim urged Nigerians to view the country’s participation within the broader context of diplomatic representation, stressing that Nigeria would continue to play its role fully at the General Assembly.

Shettima represented Tinubu at the 79th and 80th sessions of the UNGA in 2024 and 2025.

Reacting, Atiku demanded a full explanation over Tinubu’s repeated absence from the UN General Assembly, asking whether the President’s documented history with United States law-enforcement agencies has become a burden on Nigeria’s foreign relations.

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In a statement issued by Shaibu, Atiku said Tinubu stayed away from the 79th UNGA session in 2024, the 80th in 2025 and now the 81st in 2026, repeatedly sending Vice President Shettima to stand in for him.

He said three consecutive absences could no longer be dismissed as coincidence or routine delegation but constituted a pattern of presidential evasion requiring an honest explanation.

“The United Nations General Assembly is one of the world’s most important diplomatic gatherings. It brings together the representatives of the UN’s 193 member states and provides a unique platform for presidents and prime ministers to defend their countries’ interests, negotiate partnerships and shape global decisions on trade, security and development,” Atiku said.

“Vice President Shettima may represent Nigeria capably, but representation by delegation cannot permanently substitute for the personal authority, visibility and responsibility of the President.

“Tinubu cannot continue to treat Nigeria’s seat at the world’s biggest diplomatic table as though it were an inconvenient appointment that can be endlessly outsourced.

“Presidential absence on the global stage has consequences. UNGA is not merely a ceremonial gathering or an annual photo opportunity. Its sidelines are where leaders hold decisive bilateral meetings, court investors, negotiate trade partnerships, mobilise development finance and make the case for their countries.

“When a President makes himself absent from that stage for three consecutive years, his country loses opportunities. Investment does not follow silence. International capital does not pursue a country whose leader repeatedly abandons the room in which consequential economic relationships are being built.

“The cost is eventually transferred to ordinary citizens: fewer investments mean fewer businesses and fewer jobs. Reduced capital inflows place additional pressure on the local currency. A weaker naira raises the cost of imports, production, transportation and food. These are among the economic pressures now punishing Nigerian families through the worst cost-of-living crisis in living memory.

“Tinubu may consider attending UNGA a matter of personal prerogative, but the economic and diplomatic consequences of his absence are being paid by Nigerians. A President may surrender his seat, but a nation cannot escape the bill.”

Atiku described as extraordinary the reported announcement by Ibrahim that he had secured Tinubu a seat “not too far from where the US President, Donald Trump, will be seated.”

He said, “The seat was secured, but the President disappeared.”

Atiku added that, “If proximity to President Trump was considered such a diplomatic achievement, why did Tinubu abandon the opportunity and send his deputy? Why celebrate securing a strategic seat for the President when the President had no intention of occupying it?

“That contradiction becomes even more scandalous when Nigerians remember that Tinubu’s administration committed up to $9m of Nigeria’s scarce foreign exchange to American lobbyists supposedly hired to improve its standing before the government and people of the United States.

“What exactly did Nigerians purchase with that money? Why spend millions of dollars lobbying Washington while Tinubu repeatedly stays away from New York? Why hire lobbyists to speak for Nigeria in America when the Nigerian President cannot summon the courage to appear at the world’s biggest diplomatic gathering on American soil?

“Did the lobbyists fail, or is Tinubu’s American baggage simply too heavy for any public-relations firm to carry?”

Atiku said the President’s persistent avoidance of the United States inevitably invites troubling questions.

Atiku said Tinubu’s conduct presented a glaring contrast between the image he cultivated at home and the timidity he displayed on the international stage.

“So why is Tinubu eternally paranoid about the global podium, especially when that podium stands in the United States?

“Here is a President who professes tigritude at home, draped in an assortment of aliases, including ‘Jagaban,’ the leader of warriors in the Borgu Emirate, and ‘Asiwaju,’ the one who supposedly leads from the front, but who becomes a whimpering, lily-livered and timid chicken on the global stage.

“Nigeria’s foreign standing has never been more miniaturised. Under Tinubu, the country rarely features prominently in continental leadership, the Commonwealth or world affairs.

“His government deployed Nigerian fighter jets and troops to Benin Republic following the December 2025 attempted coup while bandits, terrorists and freelance criminals continued to terrorise Nigerians at home.

“Nigeria could project military power across its border, yet its President could not project Nigeria’s voice from its seat at the United Nations. That contradiction is humiliating.”

Atiku demanded that the Presidency state unequivocally whether Tinubu was free to travel to the United States and disclose the real reason for his third consecutive UNGA absence.

“If there is no impediment, the Presidency must explain this serial absenteeism. If an impediment exists, Nigerians have a right to know.

“Nigeria is bigger than Bola. Our diplomatic influence, economic interests and international reputation must not be subordinated to Tinubu’s American baggage.

“After committing up to $9m to American lobbyists, Nigerians deserve more than silence, evasions and another empty presidential seat at the United Nations,” he concluded.