Nigerians have expressed dissatisfaction over President Bola Tinubu’s decision to address residents of Plateau State from the departure lounge of Yakubu Gowon Airport in Hyeipang, rather than visiting the affected communities in Jos.
The airport is located about a 40 minute drive from Jos, the state capital where the attack occurred.
Tinubu was in the state following a deadly incident that claimed 28 lives and left 22 others injured. He arrived at the airport on Thursday evening and met with stakeholders as well as some victims.
Although the president assured that his administration would support victims and restore calm to the area, many Nigerians criticised his decision not to visit the scene of the attack personally.
Tinubu, who indicated he was returning to Lagos for the Easter holidays, stated, “you have no light at the airport, and I have to fly back within the next 10 minutes.
“To the victims, there’s nothing I can give you but promise you this experience will not repeat itself.”
Several Nigerians took to social media platform X to express their displeasure.
Ridwan Oke, a lawyer with the handle @RidwanuLlah, wrote, “The President has no business going to Jos if he was going to turn at the Airport.
“If it was a campaign, he would enter the nooks and crannies of that state to solicit votes.
“Lives were lost, citizens are panicking and all you could do was a consolation speech at the AirPort?
“Even had the relatives who had just lost their people dress up to meet him. A waste of everybody’s time.”
Another user, @FemiBallHard_LV, commented, “First, the governor of Jos went on a supposed condolence visit in an armored truck to go see his own people.
“The President of the country couldn’t travel down to the actual attack sites to see the looks of things but instead decided to address the people from the Airport.”
Similarly, @peace_igho wrote, “So all the epistle Tinubu wrote on Twitter about going to Jos was to just stop at the airport??”
User @Nedumcity_ added, “President Tinubu went to Plateau State Airport to talk to Airplanes, when will he visit Jos to talk and commiserate with families and victims of Jos killings?”
