After a 13-day private visit to Paris, France, President Bola Tinubu has returned to the country.
Media reports announced that the president returned on Tuesday night and was received at the Presidential Wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport by a welcome party led by FCT Minister, Mr Nyesom Wike and included the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Mr George Akume.
The visit to Paris, France was styled as a purely private visit which came in the midst of heightened tension in the country exacerbated by increasing insecurity and depressing economic realities on ground.
While away, the President was not featured in any public event, save for a brief video that showed him watching the Super Eagles defeat Angola in the ongoing African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cote d’Ivoire.
Even then many suggested that the video was released after photos of the Labour Party candidate in the last presidential election,r. Peter Obi, made waves on social media, after he was shown on the spectators stand cheering the Nigerian team. Nigeria beat Angola 1 – 0 in the quarterfinal match.
An online newspaper reports that while the president was away that at least three monarchs all of Ekiti stock, two in Ekiti State and one in Kwara Stte were killed by bandits as reflective of the insecurity in the land.
School children were also abducted in Ekiti, but released on Sunday while the school bus driver was killed.
In Minna, Niger State, residents of the state capital protested the hike in foodstuffs, raising fears across the country that a tipping point has been reached.
A viral video from showed a grown man crying and lamenting in Yoruba language in a local market that he did not have N200.00 to complete the N2,200.00 being sought by a seller for a mudu (local measure) of rice. His pain was that he had children to feed at home.
A market woman gave him the balance of N200.00.
The man appealed openly that those who voted in the President should reach out to him on the hardship in the country.
Also while the president was away, the nation’s currency continued its fall.
However, presidential aides and All Progressives Congress, APC chiefs nevertheless have defended the response of the administration to the challenges faced by the citizenry with the assurance that the measures taken by the administration would sooner than later begin to yield result.
● Additional report GWG.ng