Tinubu, wife depart Abuja for UK state visit

President Bola Tinubu has departed Abuja for a state visit to the United Kingdom, in the company of his wife, Oluremi Tinubu.

The visit is the first by a Nigerian president in 37 years. President Tinubu is also the first Nigerian leader to be hosted by the British monarch at Windsor Castle.

Their flight left the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, at about 10: 00 am on Tuesday.

They were seen off at the airport by a delegation led by the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio; the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, and other government officials.

Members of the President’s entourage include Akpabio; Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi; Minister of Solid Minerals, Dele Alake; Minister of Information and National Orientation, Idris Mohammed, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Bianca Ojukwu; Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun; and Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Jumoke Oduwole.

Others are Minister of Culture and Creative Economy, Hannatu Musawa; Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani; Minister of Defence, General Christopher Musa (retd.); National Security Adviser, Malam Nuhu Ribadu; and Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, Mohammed Mohammed.

Likely on the agenda are issues ranging from major Nigerian port renovations backed by Britain as well as trade, which reached £8.1 billion ($11 billion) in the year to September 2025, an 11.4 percent year-on-year increase.

King Charles will later receive Tinubu for an audience at Windsor Castle before hosting a state banquet that evening.

On Thursday, Tinubu is expected to meet British Prime Minister Keir Starmer as well as members of the Nigerian community abroad, according to the official schedule. King Charles hosted a reception last week for members of the Nigerian diaspora at St James’s Palace.

– Economic, defence ties –

The state visit provides Britain and Nigeria, which already have a strong diplomatic relationship, a chance to discuss security and trade, as well as governance issues ahead of next year’s presidential election, said Samuel Orovwuje, a Nigerian public affairs analyst and member of the African Development Studies Centre.

“We have a good trading relationship with the UK, but if you look at the balance of trade, it has always been in the favour of the UK,” Orovwuje told AFP.

London and Abuja concluded a strategic partnership in November 2024 to strengthen economic, immigration and security cooperation.

Many banks from Africa’s fourth-largest economy operate subsidiaries in the United Kingdom and the two nations signed an economic cooperation agreement in early 2024, under Britain’s previous Conservative government.

– Potential wrinkles –

First Lady Oluremi Tinubu, a Christian pastor, is set to preach at services at Lambeth Palace and to meet representatives of the Church of England.

Tinubu is not an Anglican, but the meeting comes as a rift has emerged between England’s official Church and conservative Anglicans over the choice of a woman to serve as the Archbishop of Canterbury.

In response to Sarah Mullally’s ascension as the spiritual leader of Anglicans worldwide, a conservative group of Anglicans, mainly Africans, met in Abuja this month under the auspices of the Global Anglican Future Conference, which calls itself a movement of “authentic” Anglicans. They elected Laurent Mbanda, the archbishop of Rwanda, as their chairman.

And missing from the official schedule is the traditional meeting between the visiting head of state and the British opposition.

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch, who is of Nigerian descent, has repeatedly criticised the country she was raised in in public over corruption and violence.

Breaking: ASUU suspends 2-week warning strike

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has suspended its two-week warning strike it declared last week across all public universities in the country. The union announced the suspension on Wednesday at a press conference held at its headquarters in Abuja. President of ASUU, Chris Piwuna, who read a prepared speech before newsmen, explained that the development followed intervention by the Senate and some other well-meaning Nigerians. However, he sad the National Executive Council of the Union resolved to give the government a one-month window to address all contending areas.

JUST IN: If Tinubu Had Told Me, I Wouldn’t Have Agreed To Rivers State Of Emergency Rule – Wike

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has stated that he would not have agreed with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu if he had discussed his move to declare a State of Emergency in Rivers State. Wike noted that he is not in conflict with the suspended Rivers State Governor, Sim Fubara He stressed his opposition on the State of Emergency rule, stating that only the President knows the right time to lift it. While speaking to journalists in Abuja on Monday, Wike remarked that Fubara has permitted himself to be manipulated by his adversaries to oppose him. The FCT Minister said: “ I made it clear that this impunity will not stand, so what is happening in PDP is what I call undertakers because I see no reason why you will put yourself under that kind of crisis. “I don’t have any crisis with him (Fubara). I’m not the President who declared a State of Emergency; if Mr President had called me, I wouldn’t have agreed to the State of Emergenc...

Woman Burned to Death, Accused of Kidnapping 7yrs Old Boy in Delta

By Tessy ogbemi An angry mob set ablaze a woman accused in a failed child kidnapping attempt in Agbarho community, Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State. The incident happened on Wednesday, September 24, 2025. An eyewitness disclosed at the scene of the incident at Ekwvere Road claimed that the woman hid the seven year old boy she allegedly abducted in a sack, adding that she was even carrying a Bible on one hand. Community sources said some residents in the area accosted the lady when they observed the way she was dragging the sack, to know what she had in it. "She was unstable when they asked her to disclose what she was carrying in the sack. When the bag was forced open, they found a seven year old child in it. They shouted and it attracted a large crowd,” a source said. It was gathered that the angry mob immediately brought a used tyre to the scene, which they forced down her neck after beating her to a pulp. “The lady and the tyre we...

FocalPoint Reports

Search This Blog