In a revealing interview on Inside Sources, Professor Chidi Odinkalu, a former chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, offered a scathing critique of President Bola Tinubu’s leadership following recent U.S. military actions in Nigeria. Odinkalu specifically highlighted the President’s absence from the country during the New Year period as a sign of abdication of duty, especially after U.S. President Donald Trump announced precision missile strikes on ISIS-linked camps in Sokoto State on Christmas Day. Odinkalu noted that while the U.S. leader spoke directly to his people, the Nigerian Commander-in-Chief remained silent and spent the holiday season abroad in Europe.
Professor Odinkalu compared the current U.S. intervention in Venezuela—where Nicolás Maduro was recently captured by U.S. forces—to the 1989/1990 operation in Panama involving Manuel Noriega. He warned that while the U.S. is acting on narratives of drug trafficking and election rigging, Nigeria’s leadership should be more concerned with its own failure to protect its territory. He described President Tinubu as “missing in action” as Commander-in-Chief, arguing that the President appears to rely more on the judiciary for political survival than on the mandate and well-being of the Nigerian people.
The legal expert also addressed the controversy surrounding the recently signed tax reform bills. He commended Honorable Abdul Samad Dasuki for exposing discrepancies between the version of the bill passed by the National Assembly and the version that was eventually gazetted. Odinkalu slammed the idea of “regazetting” as an administrative impossibility, stating that if a law is published in the official gazette, it is the law of the land. He suggested that the current administration is operating an “architecture of lawlessness,” where advisors like Taiwo Oyedele appear to exercise “power without responsibility” across multiple government portfolios.
