Tinubu’s thunderous tumble in Turkey: An embarrassing stumble or wobble?

PRESIDENT Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s collapse in Turkey has elicited comments that point more to the divisiveness that trails Tinubu’s relations with Nigerians, many of whom remember him for the afflictions his policies have been.

Today’s Turkey emerged in 1923 from the Allied Forces’ defeat of the 600-year Ottoman Empire in World War I (the Empire sided with Germany) and the abolition of the Sultanate in 1922 by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk who became the first elected President of Turkey.

Going through history, Tinubu’s tumble in Turkey was completely avoidable if he had known or acted like Mai Idris Alooma of ancient Kanem-Bornu Empire.

Alooma never visited Ottoman Empire with which he had diplomatic relations by 1574 – a clear 452 years before Tinubu’s fall that has divided Nigerians over why Tinubu fell. There are accounts that maintain that Tinubu did not fall, that the fall story is only in the minds of Nigerians who do not wish Nigeria and its President well.

By their version of the incident, possibly accident in Turkey, Tinubu missed his steps. Twice? There was nothing to the fall; only some Nigerians want to embarrass the President. Presidents stumble; they defend with an illustrious list of Presidents who do not afflict their people with the hardship that has earned Tinubu mostly public odium.

Tinubu embarrassed Nigeria. His 71-year-old host President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had the inelegant duty of holding Tinubu to prevent further falls. Our President humbly followed wherever he was led. Very humbling if not humiliating.

What was Tinubu doing in Turkey in freezing weather? January is the coldest month in Ankara. Temperature was reading 8ºC as the President arrived, wearing an ill-fitting, ash-coloured winter attire that read poor preparation for the trip. Tinubu looked ashen, tired, and with wooden strides that foretold the falls.

The trip had major mis-steps days earlier. Hours after former Governor of Kebbi State Usman Dakingari Suleiman was announced as Ambassador-designate to Turkey, the appointment was withdrawn. The Presidency – so-addressed, when Tinubu would not take responsibility for his failings – had forgotten that Dakingari was not among the 64 the Senate had screened for ambassadorial postings only weeks ago.

And the water-testing narratives on Vice-President Kashim Shettima, hardworking scion of Kanem-Bornu Empire, top APC politician in the North-East zone, being no longer suitable as Tinubu’s running mate, gained currency. His possible replacements are being named. A mild storm is brewing around this to the joy of the opposition.

Why hurry to Turkey?

Mai Idris Alooma, unlike Tinubu, never visited the Ottoman Empire, chummy and strategic as the relations were. Alooma faced the challenges of stabilising the Lake Chad area which was important for the sustenance of his semi-arid Empire that stretched to the Mandara Mountains, in today’s Cameroun and parts of Niger Republic and Chad.

Alooma preferred to be at home, personally leading expeditions, wars, and other engagements to gain more trade routes and stabilise them for the security of his Empire.

Times could have changed but Mai Idris Alooma understood his charge.

According to Wikipedia, quoting historical records, Mai Idris Alooma of the Kanem-Bornu Empire (reigned c. 1570–1603) did not personally visit the Ottoman Empire, but he established formal diplomatic relations with Istanbul, once Constantinople, capital for 470 years, until the capital moved to Ankara in 1923.

Here are the key details of the relationship between Idris Alooma and the Ottoman Empire’s Sultan Murad III:

.Diplomatic Envoys: Rather than travelling himself, Alooma sent official ambassadors to Istanbul. A notable delegation in 1574, headed by a Borno scholar named El-Hajj Yusuf, stayed in Istanbul for four years to negotiate with Sultan Murad III.

Military Alliance: These diplomatic missions secured military cooperation, including the arrival of Ottoman military advisers to train the Bornu army and the acquisition of firearms, which helped modernise the Kanem-Bornu military.

. Negotiations over Fezzan: When the Ottomans expanded into the Fezzan region (in modern-day Libya), affecting trade, Alooma sent emissaries to Istanbul to safeguard Borno’s interests.

.Pilgrimage: While he did not visit Istanbul, Idris Alooma performed the Hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca, where he established a hostel for pilgrims from his Empire. Alooma used high-level diplomacy – not personal visits – to connect the Borno Empire with the Ottoman Empire.

Tinubu was absent for three weeks when he was poorly accounted for from late December to January, touched down in Nigeria, and within weeks, he was off to Turkey.

It may be in place to suggest that the President takes more time off. A stopover in France, this time, would be apt. He needs to know what was wrong, and at a wrong time in Turkey.

We may want the President back quickly to fix the collapsing national grid which those who praise Tinubu’s omniscience claim only the President can handle as the author of the electricity roadmap, but a collapsing President needs more attention than ailing electricity systems.

Mr. President should visit France instead of weighing in on any side of the futile debates over his fall, trip, stumble, tumble, wobble and fumble. It is not only who fell who feels it – Nigerians felt the international fall which was totally avoidable.

Finally… COMMUNITIES in Shiroro Local Government, Niger State, have been levied N7m by bandits in the area. Their offence? The bandits accuse the communities of inviting the military to the area, an obviously grievous offence for which there are no indications that our “non-kinetic” government would intervene.

THERE are no strong conversations about the 117 worshippers whose freedom bandits prised during church services three weeks ago in Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State. Almost like compatriots in Niger State, the bandits have imposed payment of N28.9m – reported cost of their destroyed motorcycles, during a military attack – as the first condition to be met before they discuss ransom for their latest victims.

NOBODY is sure when the President will return to Nigeria. These security matters will have to wait. Minister of Defence, and National Security Adviser, the master of non-kinetic approaches, are in Turkey with the President.

HUNDRED of dignitaries discovered Ofoni, in Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa State on Friday as they attended the funeral of Dr. Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, 65, Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State who passed on 11 December 2025. With his native Ofoni, as his final resting place, Dr. Ewhrudjakpo fully stamped Ofoni on the global map as the event was beamed live on satellite television. May the Almighty rest Dr. Ewhrudjakpo. Amen.

.ISIGUZO is a major commentator on minor issues

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