Bola Akinterinwa, a former Director General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, says it would have been ideal for President Bola Tinubu to attend the UN summit to avoid speculations about the reason behind his absence.

Bola Akinterinwa, a former Director General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, says President Bola Tinubu is a more cautious leader than US President Donald Trump.

A former Director General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Bola Akinterinwa, says President Bola Tinubu’s absence from the United Nations General Assembly may be a strategic decision.

Akinterinwa explained that though Vice President Kashim Shettima, who represented his principal at the UN summit, might not be able to operate at the level of heads of state, US President Donald Trump, being an unpredictable leader, could find unnecessary excuses to embarrass Tinubu.

“But when you look at the other aspect, why our own Bola Ahmed Tinubu not going. It may be a strategy itself. One, at the level of Donald Trump, Donald Trump is an unpredictable president,” he said on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Friday.

“Donald Trump thinks after action, but he does not think well before action. He is a president who can thoroughly embarrass our own president, find unnecessary excuses because Nigeria appears to be towing a sort of independentist line when it comes to the conduct and management of international affairs.

“Donald Trump doesn’t like this. Donald Trump wants to be seen as the primus inter pares in international relations,” the professor said.

‘Trump Not Better Than Tinubu’

The former NIIA DG said it would have been ideal for Tinubu to attend the UN summit to avoid speculations about the reason behind his absence.

He, however, described the President as a more cautious leader than Trump.

“So in this case, this is the second time our president will not be attending. But what does that mean really? What is it that is in hi” head for not going? The ideal thing would have been to be there.”

“If he’s there, in which way are you going to say that Donald Trump is better than Ahmed Tinubu of Nigeria? He’s not,” he said.

“And I can tell you that Ahmed Tinubu is as intelligent, if not more intelligent, than Donald Trump. He’s more cautious.

“He’s more strategic in his approach, but when you are absent, you give room for unnecessary speculations,” Akinterinwa added.

‘Reform Or Lose Relevance’

Tinubu, on Wednesday, warned that the UN must embrace sweeping restructurings or face growing irrelevance as world events increasingly bypass its influence.

In his address to the UN General Assembly’s 80th session, President Tinubu, who was represented by his deputy, Vice President Kashim Shettima, warned that the UN’s credibility is being undermined by the gulf between its words and its deeds while positioning Nigeria’s economic transformation as a model for developing nations.

“For all our careful diplomatic language, the slow pace of progress on these hardy perennials of the UN General Assembly debate has led some to look away from the multilateral model. Some years ago, I noticed a shift at this gathering: key events were beginning to take place outside this hall, and the most sought-after voices were no longer heads of state,” the President said.

Tinubu also outlined four key reform demands, starting with Nigeria’s call for permanent UN Security Council membership. (Channels TV, excluding headline)