Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has said officials in Türkiye, a country that bridges Europe and Asia and is a major diplomatic and trade partner of Nigeria, were surprised that a brief stumble by Nigeria’s President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, became a major talking point back home.
Dabiri-Erewa made the remark on Wednesday, 28 January 2026, while reacting to a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, by Oguntoye Opeyemi, a Nigerian social media user who writes under the name Equityoyo. The user criticised the heavy attention Nigerian media and online platforms gave to the moment.
“Exactly. On ground here in Ankara, their officials were shocked to learn that it was an issue in Nigerian media/blogs,” Dabiri-Erewa wrote, referring to Ankara, the capital city of Türkiye.
She added that some Turkish officials viewed the controversy as unnecessary, with one of them describing the focus on the incident as “silly and mischievous.” Okay News reports that Dabiri-Erewa said the officials stressed that Tinubu’s visit was being welcomed and widely covered in Türkiye as a successful diplomatic engagement.
In his post, Opeyemi also said the incident was not treated as a major story in Türkiye’s mainstream broadcast media. “Not a single Turkish TV station reported the President’s accidental slip because it’s a non-issue. But Naija TV and national newspapers,” he wrote.
Tinubu briefly stumbled on Tuesday, 27 January 2026, during a ceremonial march-past held in his honour at a parade ground in Ankara. The moment happened as he stepped forward to join a guard of honour, but the programme continued without disruption.
Video of the incident, first shared by Nefes Gazetesi, a Turkish digital news outlet, later circulated widely on X. The footage showed Tinubu walking beside Türkiye’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, before briefly losing his balance. Security personnel quickly supported him.
Tinubu’s trip is his first official visit to Türkiye as president, and it is aimed at strengthening diplomatic relations and expanding cooperation between both countries. Areas highlighted around the visit include defence, trade, investment, energy, media collaboration, and scientific research.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has in recent years sought stronger partnerships that can support investment, security cooperation, and economic growth, while Türkiye has increased its engagement across Africa through trade, diplomacy, and defence ties.
