President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ended his working vacation abroad and departed Paris for Nigeria, with his aircraft expected to touch down at Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, later Tuesday evening, the presidency said.
Homecoming timed to honour democracy icon
A statement from the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said the president deliberately routed his return through Lagos rather than the capital, Abuja, to pay tribute to the late Chief MKO Abiola.
“The Nigerian leader chose to fly to Lagos first to honour the memory of Chief MKO Abiola, the martyr of Nigeria’s democratic struggle,” the statement said.
According to the statement, Tinubu will attend the premiere of a film celebrating Abiola — winner of the annulled June 1993 presidential election — at the Wole Soyinka National Theatre in Iganmu, Lagos, on Independence Day.
Political meetings ahead of 2027
Onanuga’s statement indicated the Lagos stopover will double as a political working visit. “While in Lagos, President Tinubu will also hold strategic meetings with political leaders and associates over several days in preparation for the 2027 elections,” it said.
A five-week diplomatic and business swing
The statement traced Tinubu’s trip back to August 30, when he left Abuja for what was described as a working vacation, spending a week in London before proceeding to Paris.
In France, he dined privately with President Emmanuel Macron and held talks with business figures, including Vincent Bolloré of the Bolloré Group — whose holdings span Canal+, MultiChoice and Universal Music Group — as well as First Holdings chairman Femi Otedola, according to the statement.
The trip also featured a major infrastructure announcement. The statement noted Tinubu witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ogun State Government and DP World for a deep seaport in Ogun Waterside and an accompanying Blue Marine Economic Zone, with the logistics giant committing $7 billion to the project.
The president will return to Abuja once his Lagos engagements conclude, the statement said.
