Category: Columnists

When history recalls the 80th United Nations General Assembly, Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will not be counted among the absent voices, nor among those that spoke in measured clichés. Instead, he will be remembered as the conscience of the assembly, the leader who held up a mirror to the world’s most powerful body and asked it whether it still has the moral courage to lead. Though his words were conveyed by Vice President Kashim Shettima in New York, they bore the unmistakable mark of a man unwilling to court silence in the face of injustice.

Tinubu’s UNGA address was no ordinary diplomatic outing. It was a stinging rebuke of institutional lethargy and selective empathy. At a time when global conflicts ravage lives from Palestine to Sudan, when sovereign debt strangles economies in the Global South, and when multilateral forums increasingly resemble echo chambers, the Nigerian President warned that the United Nations risks irrelevance unless it reforms fundamentally.

“For all our careful diplomatic language, the slow pace of progress has led some to look away from the multilateral model,” he charged. He reminded world leaders that events were increasingly taking place outside the UN’s hallowed chambers and the world’s most critical conversations were no longer centered on the institution meant to embody global fairness.

But the harshest lines were reserved for the plight of the Palestinian people. “They are not collateral damage in a civilisation searching for order,” Tinubu declared. “They are human beings, equal in worth, entitled to the same freedoms and dignities that the rest of us take for granted.” Few African leaders have been this blunt, naming the injustice rather than cloaking it in evasive language. In so doing, Tinubu spoke truth not only to global authorities but also to history itself.

The Nigerian leader’s reform prescription was detailed and pragmatic. He demanded permanent Security Council representation for Africa, with Nigeria taking its rightful place. He called for a new international financial court to manage sovereign debt, stressing that relief should not be treated as charity but as enlightened self-interest for global stability. He pushed for equitable access to Africa’s critical minerals, insisting that the continent must not remain a raw material appendage in the global value chain. And, looking to the digital frontier, he insisted that “AI must stand for Africa Included.”

This was more than rhetoric. It was an assertion of Nigeria’s readiness to lead—not by begging for inclusion, but by offering its reforms and resilience as a blueprint for others. The UNGA platform allowed Tinubu to position his country not as a victim of global inequities but as a bold reformer calling others to higher standards.

While his voice thundered in New York, back in Abuja President Tinubu was quietly deploying a different kind of leadership: empathy. Receiving the report of the Presidential Committee on Ogoni Consultations, he chose not to approach the decades-long oil impasse merely as an economic issue. Instead, he framed it as a human tragedy that must be acknowledged before healing can begin.

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“We are not as a government taking lightly the years of pain endured in Ogoniland,” he said with deliberate solemnity. “The Federal Government truly acknowledges the long suffering of the Ogoni people, and today we declare with conviction that hope is here and is back with us.”

By mandating the National Security Adviser to begin immediate engagements with NNPCL, local leaders, and stakeholders, Tinubu signaled urgency. Yet beyond bureaucratic steps, what stood out was his symbolic act: conferring national honours on the “Ogoni Four” and other heroes who paid the ultimate price in the struggle for environmental justice. It was a gesture that told the people of Ogoni that the nation remembers their sacrifice, and that the new relationship being forged will be one of dignity and partnership.

Friday took Tinubu to Mapo Hall, Ibadan, where the coronation of Oba Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja as the 44th Olubadan became more than a cultural event—it was a reunion of friendship and a reaffirmation of hope.

The President, recalling their shared days as senators in the early 1990s and as governors a decade later, drew attention to the resilience that defined Ladoja’s political career. He reminded Nigerians that when political storms threatened to swallow the Oyo leader, it was across party lines that they found solidarity. Now, at 81, Ladoja’s elevation to the throne of Ibadan was a crowning vindication, especially considering the fact that those who orchestrated the tribulation of the then Oyo Governor were not at the very colourful coronation ceremony, which stood Ibadan still. They are either dead or too shamed to join the memorable event.

But Tinubu did not merely celebrate a friend. He seized the occasion to assure Nigerians that the painful economic surgery his government embarked upon was beginning to bear fruit. “The economy has turned the corner,” he declared to a jubilant crowd. “There is a bright light at the end of the tunnel.”

The choice of Ibadan—a city with deep political and cultural significance—as the venue for this message was no accident. Ibadan was the administrative seat of the Old Western Region, the place you will call the capital of the Yoruba states. Where better could he have reminded his kin and the entire citizenry that the endurance of today is the seed of prosperity tomorrow?

Earlier in the week, the President had welcomed Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara back to Aso Villa, days after the expiration of the six-month state of emergency that had temporarily sidelined his administration. For Fubara, it was more than a routine visit; it was an expression of gratitude to the man whose wisdom and political dexterity helped preserve his office in turbulent times.

For Tinubu, it was another affirmation of his style: resolve crises firmly, then return to the path of reconciliation. His open-door reception for Fubara signaled that the President views Rivers not as a battlefield of political contests but as a vital partner in Nigeria’s stability and prosperity.

The week had, in fact, begun on a personal note. On Sunday, Tinubu celebrated his wife, First Lady Oluremi Tinubu, at 65, paying her one of the most heartfelt tributes of his presidency. He spoke of her as “confidant, counsellor, and steady flame illuminating my path,” and went further to say Nigeria owes her more than many will ever know, for she has carried sacrifices of statecraft without podium or fanfare.

It was a reminder that behind the sternness of reform and the rigours of diplomacy lies the anchor of family, faith, and devotion.

A Week That Spoke Volumes

Even with UNGA diplomacy, Ogoni reconciliation, and the hope-laden message in Ibadan defining the headlines, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s docket still pulsed with quieter but telling engagements—some delivered personally, others by trusted lieutenants—that pressed the same levers of governance: merit, morality, unity, productivity. These were the steady beats that gave the week its rhythm.

Monday opened with salutations that doubled as civics. Tinubu hailed former Katsina Governor Ibrahim Shehu Shema at 68, citing a record that treated education, health, and infrastructure as non-negotiables of responsible government—an ode to discipline and patriotism as working gears for a reforming republic. He also celebrated Spectrum Engineering’s chairman, Engr. Abubakar Isa, locating manufacturing and engineering at the heart of recovery, and congratulated Damilola Ogunbiyi on her inclusion among Forbes’ Sustainability Leaders 2025, affirming an equitable energy transition that prioritises the underserved and accelerates access for millions across Africa.

If Monday framed the cast, Tuesday supplied the continental brief. At the Africa Minerals Strategy Group roundtable in New York—conveyed by Vice President Kashim Shettima—Tinubu urged Africa to finance its mineral destiny through sovereign funds, blended vehicles, and innovative instruments such as an Africa Mineral Token. The thesis was blunt: sovereignty cannot be pawned for capital. Control of critical minerals, processed at home and priced with leverage, is how the continent enters supply chains as owner rather than onlooker; anything less is dependency by another name.

Wednesday blended character, culture, and civic discipline. Tinubu saluted Dr. Femi Orebe at 80, honouring a columnist whose pen steadied democratic advocacy and sharpened public debate across decades. In Owerri, he cautioned Christian pilgrims against absconding, defining pilgrimage as a battlefield of conscience—not a visa strategy—and urging travellers to return with their groups in dignity. He also celebrated Abdullahi Tijjani Gwarzo at 65, praising a politics rooted in principle and proven in service from local government to the federal cabinet.

By Thursday, the spotlight swung to performance. Senator Saliu Mustapha drew presidential praise as one of the legislature’s “bright lights,” a reminder that agriculture and rural development must be mission, not mantra. In the oil patch, Tinubu’s tribute to NUPRC chief Gbenga Komolafe underscored regulatory reform as nation-building by other means: predictable rules, transparent oversight, investor confidence—and continental coordination through AFRIPERF—to lift standards, output, and credibility.

Friday stitched community, memory, and nationhood. Tinubu celebrated Honourable Adebisi Yusuff, the Alimosho organiser whose politics is spelled in ward meetings and social relief. At the National Mosque, through the Information Minister, he opened Independence week with a call to unity—one country, one project—despite the trials of sixty-five years. In Otukpa, he honoured Chief Audu Ogbeh, a bridge-builder whose imprint “will be felt for generations.” He also mourned Chief Oludolapo Akinkugbe, pharmacist, publisher, and philanthropist—one of the sterling hands that helped shape modern Nigeria. And he saluted Bishop David Oyedepo at 71, noting decades of impact across faith, education, and social investment.

Together, these strands formed the understory to the headline week: reward excellence, reject ethical shortcuts, centre production, and call the federation to shared effort. Reform is policy; nation-building is posture. Both require stamina—and they are won in the steady work between the big moments.

In all, the week of September 21–26 painted a portrait of a leader navigating multiple fronts with one unifying theme: truth. At the UNGA, Tinubu told the world’s most powerful nations that their selective morality is unacceptable. In Ogoniland, he told a people that their pain is not forgotten and that partnership is the way forward. In Ibadan, he told Nigerians that the storm clouds over the economy are breaking, revealing light. In Rivers, he told a governor that reconciliation trumps division. And at home, he told his wife, and through her the nation, that service is most potent when anchored in love and sacrifice.

The coming weeks will test whether these words translate into lasting change. But for now, President Tinubu has reminded both Nigeria and the world that leadership is not about silence or convenience; it is about speaking truth to power, healing old wounds, and carrying the people’s hopes with both conviction and compassion.