The Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has criticised President Bola Tinubu over his visit to Saint Lucia, describing the trip as “ill-timed and insensitive” given the deepening hardship, insecurity, and natural disasters afflicting Nigeria.

Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, had announced on Friday that the President would embark on a state visit to the Caribbean nation on Saturday, as part of efforts to deepen Nigeria’s diplomatic engagement with the region and promote South-South cooperation. The visit, Onanuga said, would be followed by Tinubu’s participation in the 17th BRICS Summit in Brazil.

However, in a strongly worded statement titled *“No, Mr President, This is Not the Time for Holidaying,”* Obi expressed dismay at the President’s travel plans, calling them out of touch with the realities on the ground.

“I didn’t want to believe that anybody in the position of authority—more so the President, on whose table the buck stops—would contemplate a leisure trip at this time,” Obi said.

He questioned how the President could leave for what he described as a “holiday” while the nation battles widespread hunger, worsening insecurity, and the aftermath of recent natural disasters.

“In the past two years, Nigeria has lost more people to all sorts of criminality than a country that is officially at war,” Obi stated. “Nigeria ranks among the most insecure places in the world. Nigerians are hungrier, and most people do not know where their next meal will come from.”

Obi said he was bewildered by the Presidency’s decision to publicise the trip while the country reels under extreme socioeconomic pressure. He also took aim at Tinubu’s failure to visit disaster-hit communities, such as Minna in Niger State, where floods have reportedly claimed over 200 lives and displaced hundreds.

He further criticised what he termed the President’s “political jamboree” in Benue State, arguing it lacked the sincerity of a genuine condolence visit.

“What I have seen and witnessed in the last two years has left me in shock about poor governance delivery and the apparent channelling of energy into politics and elite satisfaction, while the masses in our midst are languishing in want,” Obi said.

The statement adds to growing public scrutiny of the Tinubu administration’s priorities, particularly its engagement with foreign trips at a time when large segments of the population face acute hardship.