Politics
Tinubu begins three-week annual leave, heads to Europe
President Bola Tinubu will leave Abuja for Europe today to begin a three-week vacation as part of his annual leave.
The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will depart Abuja today for Europe to begin a three-week vacation as part of his annual leave. His first stop will be London, United Kingdom,” Onanuga said.
Onanuga, said that Tinubu is expected to return to Nigeria after the working vacation to join preparations for the January 2027 election, in which he will seek a second term.
Onanuga did not disclose details of the president’s itinerary, including the European countries he would visit during the three-week period and the exact date of Tinubu’s return.
The latest development is coming just days after the president asked a United States federal court to reject a request for the release of records relating to alleged drugs-related investigations involving him by US law-enforcement agencies in the 1990s, arguing that their disclosure would violate his privacy rights.
The request was contained in a 16-page filing submitted on Tinubu’s behalf in the ongoing Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by American transparency activist Aaron Greenspan against several US government agencies.
The case, Greenspan v. Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys et al., is pending before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia under case number 1:23-cv-01816-BAH.
Greenspan has been seeking records from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and other US agencies concerning Tinubu and an alleged international drug-trafficking and money-laundering investigation dating to the early 1990s.
His requests include what he describes as the FBI’s entire file on Tinubu and FBI Form 302 interview records concerning Tinubu from an FBI case covering 1992 and 1993.
The ICIR reports that Tinubu’s absence comes as political activities ahead of the 2027 general elections intensify, with the president expected to resume political engagements after his leave.
The president has regularly taken working vacations since assuming office in May 2023, sometimes combining private trips with official engagements.
In previous instances, the Presidency has described such trips as opportunities for the president to rest and undertake fewer formal engagements outside Nigeria.
The ICIR reported that Tinubu departed Abuja September 4, 2025, for a vacation in Europe, as part of his annual leave.
In 2024, the president departed Abuja on October 2, 2024 for the United Kingdom for his two-week vacation as part of his yearly leave, noting that his trip to the UK is not only for rest but also a “working vacation”, which he said was aimed at reflecting on the economic reforms undertaken by his administration.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.
