One month after directing a major slash of travel delegations for all Federal Government official trips within and outside the country, President Bola Tinubu appears to have flouted his own directive, as well as including his sons in the delegation to Qatar.
A document trending on X, shows Tinubu’s sons, Seyi and Yinka as number one and two on this list of the delegation of President Tinubu’s visit to Doha, Qatar.
The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, had in January claimed that the President had approved that “no more than 20 individuals be allowed to travel with him.”
But a second glance at the list shows that aides of the President, excluding accompanying Governors, Ministers and the Group Chief Executive of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari, shows that the main body on the President’s entourage exceeds 20.
Although the source of the leaked document is not known, it is also unclear if President Tinubu approved the list.
The Controversial Qatar Trip
Meanwhile, over the weekend, President Tinubu’s proposed trip to Qatar was not without drama after a document emerged online indicating that the country had snubbed President Tinubu by cancelling the purported business and investment forum in which the President was supposed to attend.
But shortly after Special Adviser to the President, Bayo Onanuga denied rumors that the Qatari government withdrew an invitation to President Tinubu. He confirmed the March 2-3 State Visit remains as scheduled at the invitation of the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
Onanuga, however, explained that. the leaked memo concerned a private sector business forum – Nigeria-Qatar forum being organized alongside the visit, not the high-level diplomatic agenda.
A day after, Onanuga shared a new memo, saying the above-mentioned event for March 3, 2024 would now hold.
It read;“The Embassy has the honour to convey that the Qatar Chamber of Commerce will host the above-mentioned event on 3rd March 2024, as proposed by the Nigerian side.”
