Peter Obi, former Anambra Governor and Labour Party chieftain, has condemned President Bola Tinubu for jetting abroad for vacation amid massing killing and unprecedented hunger in the country.

“No, Mr President, this is not the Time for Holidaying,” Mr Obi said in a statement on Saturday, reacting to report of Mr Tinubu travelling to Saint Lucia in the Caribbean.

The former Anambra Governor lamented that “In the past two years, Nigeria has lost more people to all sorts of criminality than a country that is officially at war. Without any twilight, Nigeria ranks among the most insecure places in the world. Nigerians are hungrier, and most people do not know where their next meal will come from.

“With such a gory picture of one’s country, you can imagine my bewilderment when I saw a news release from the Presidency announcing that President Bola Tinubu is departing Nigeria today for a visit to Saint Lucia in the Caribbean,” Mr Obi added.

Berating Mr Tinubu for focusing on politics while governance suffers, Mr Obi said “What I have seen and witnessed in the last two years has left me in shock about poor governance delivery and apparent channelling of energy into politics and satisfaction of the elites, while the masses in our midst are languishing in want.”

Mr Obi knocked Mr Tinubu travelling for leisure, while he could not visit Mokwa in Niger State, where over 700 persons are still missing after devastating flood disaster.

“I didn’t want to believe that anybody in the position of authority, more so the President, on whose table the buck stops in this country, with all the myriad problems in virtually all areas of governance, would contemplate a leisure trip at this time,” Mr Obi said.

He added, “This is a President going for leisure when he couldn’t visit Minna, Niger state where over two hundred lives were lost and over 700 persons still missing in a flood natural disaster. I wonder which type of incident will happen before a President is attracted to show physical sympathy to the distressed citizens.”

In April, Mr Tinubu had boasted of governing the country remotely from the UK during his last trip to Europe, when he was criticised for holidaying abroad while Boko Haram and bandits were overrunning the country.

Mr Tinubu boasted of “overseeing critical national issues” from abroad, adding he “remains fully engaged in Nigeria’s governance even though he is away in Europe.”