Atiku challenges Tinubu, demands daily videos of Umrah pilgrimage

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has challenged President Bola Tinubu’s administration to release daily, date-stamped photographs and videos showing the president performing the rites of Umrah in Saudi Arabia.

Atiku also called on the Presidency to disclose Tinubu’s full travel itinerary, raising questions about the purpose of the trip and reports linking it to the president’s health and an alleged $20 billion loan request involving a French business partner.

Tinubu is scheduled to depart Abuja on Thursday for Makkah to undertake the Islamic pilgrimage and is expected to return to Nigeria next week.

Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, announced the trip in a statement on Wednesday, saying it would provide Tinubu an opportunity for spiritual reflection and prayers for Nigeria’s peace, unity, stability and progress.

However, Atiku questioned whether the president would remain in Makkah throughout the visit.

In a statement issued on Wednesday by Phrank Shaibu, Director of Strategic Communication of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential campaign council, the former vice-president suggested that Tinubu might make only a brief appearance in Makkah before travelling to France.

“Atiku said there was reason to believe President Tinubu might just make a brief appearance in Makkah before proceeding to France,” the statement said

The former vice-president urged the Presidency to address the questions surrounding the trip, including the reported concerns about Tinubu’s health and the alleged $20 billion loan request involving a French business partner.

He argued that Nigerians should be able to verify the president’s presence in the Holy Land if the trip was genuinely intended to seek divine intervention for the country.

“Atiku said that if President Tinubu is truly travelling to pray for Nigeria, the Presidency should release clear, current, date-stamped photographs and videos each day showing him at the Kaaba and participating in the rites of Umrah,” the statement added.

Atiku said he and other Nigerians would join the president in praying for peace and national progress, but cautioned against invoking the name of Allah in vain.

According to him, a spiritual mission undertaken in the name of the country should be treated with seriousness and transparency.

He further maintained that an official foreign trip presented as an effort to secure divine intervention for Nigeria was a matter of public interest.

The former vice-president said citizens were entitled to know the president’s daily engagements and how the trip was being funded.

He therefore called on the Presidency to provide answers to the questions raised and release what he described as verifiable evidence of the president’s activities during the pilgrimage.

The Presidency had yet to respond to Atiku’s demands in the statement announcing the trip.

The reported concerns about Tinubu’s health and the alleged loan arrangement were raised by Atiku’s camp and were not independently established in the statement.