President-elect Bola Tinubu Leaves Nigeria Ahead Of Inauguration

President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu left Nigeria on Wednesday, just 19 days ahead of his inauguration, which is supposed to be held on May 29.

A statement signed by Tinubu's media aide, Tunde Rahmon, revealed that the president-elect went to Europe on a working visit.

According to the statement, Tinubu went to Europe to meet investors and other key allies to seek investment opportunities in several sectors of Nigeria including manufacturing, agriculture, tech and energy.

"Already, meetings with multi-sectoral actors in Europe's business community including manufacturing, agriculture, tech, and energy have been lined up," Rahmon said, Punch reported. "Asíwájú Tinubu hopes to convince them of Nigeria's readiness to do business under his leadership through mutually-beneficial partnerships premised on jobs creation and skills acquisition."

The statement explained that President-elect Tinubu's major goal is to revive the country's economy with the help of Renewed Hope agenda, which was introduced last year during the presidential campaign.

Rahmon noted that this meeting in Europe is a part of Tinubu's "efforts to re-establish Nigeria's importance in the global economic chain and create empowering opportunities for the country's huge youth population."

"The President-elect has hitherto promised to hit the ground running and the visit is reflective of his commitment to the promise as he has already begun talks with global actors in the important areas of the economy and security," he continued.

Rahmon disclosed that before leaving the country, Tinubu met the House of Representatives candidates for Speaker and Deputy Speaker endorsed by his party, the All Progressives Congress, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas and Hon. Benjamin Kalu, who were presented to him by the Joint Task Team of the House.

The statement concluded by revealing that the former Lagos State governor will return to Nigeria "shortly" for a swearing-in ceremony, which will mark him as the 16th President of the country.

The news of Tinubu leaving the country came one day after the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) asked the president-elect to declare his assets before the presidential inauguration. Aside from this, pre-hearing of petitions challenging Tinubu's victory started on Monday.

Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi has filed a petition to challenge Tinubu's victory in the presidential elections held on Feb. 25. On Tuesday, Peoples Democratic Party and the Labour Party requested the proceedings should be broadcasted live.

People's Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Atiku Abubakar was also running for the presidential election and he received 6,984,520 votes. Whereas, Tinubu won the election with 8,794,726 votes while Obi came third as he secured 6,101,533 votes.

Considering Tinubu's Europe visit, this is not the first time the president-elect left the country. Previously, it was reported that the 71-year-old former governor went to Europe for seeking medical care. However, he returned to Nigeria on April 24, after spending one month in Europe.

Even last year in January, he was rushed to London for medical treatment.