Presidency Denies Report of Tinubu’s Planned Visit to the U.S.
The Presidency has dismissed reports claiming that President Bola Tinubu is scheduled to visit the United States on Tuesday for a meeting with U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, debunked the report on Monday via his official X handle, describing it as “false and misleading.” He said the publication by Sahara Reporters had sparked “unnecessary speculation and uninformed commentaries.”
Ajayi clarified that if President Tinubu were to visit the White House, he would meet with President Donald Trump, not the Vice President.
He wrote: “There’s a Sahara Reporters story that President Tinubu is going to the U.S. on Tuesday to see U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance. That story is not true. I can see that the fake news by Sahara has become the basis for some uninformed commentaries since yesterday. If President Tinubu is going to the White House, he won’t be going to see a Vice President.”
The clarification followed earlier reports suggesting Tinubu was heading to Washington for “top-level diplomatic engagements” amid rising global attention on alleged persecution of Christians in Nigeria and a recent post by U.S. President Donald Trump threatening potential military intervention.
Trump had posted on his Truth Social account on Saturday that the U.S. might “go in guns blazing” if the Nigerian government failed to stop the alleged killing of Christians.
He stated: “If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the USA will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.”
In response to the controversy, President Tinubu reaffirmed over the weekend that Nigeria remains a democracy committed to religious freedom and equality for all.
Through a statement on his official X handle, Tinubu stressed that the Nigerian Constitution guarantees freedom of religion and that his administration has maintained open engagement with leaders of both faiths to promote peace and address security challenges.
“Nigeria stands firmly as a democracy governed by constitutional guarantees of religious liberty,” he said.
He added: “Since 2023, our administration has maintained active engagement with Christian and Muslim leaders alike and continues to address security challenges affecting citizens across all faiths and regions.”
Tinubu also rejected external portrayals of Nigeria as religiously intolerant, describing such claims as inaccurate and inconsistent with the country’s diversity and commitment to peaceful coexistence.
“The characterisation of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality, nor does it recognise the government’s ongoing efforts to safeguard freedom of religion and belief for all Nigerians,” the President stated.
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