President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is reportedly no longer expected to attend the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York, reversing earlier plans for him to represent Nigeria at the high-level meeting.
A source close to the Presidency reportedly confirmed that Tinubu would not attend the gathering, although no official reason was given for the decision. Earlier plans had placed the President on the UNGA programme to deliver Nigeria’s national statement on September 23.
The reported change comes amid heightened attention in the United States over drug trafficking allegations and historical US law enforcement records involving Tinubu. US based lobbying firm Von Batten Montague York has publicly raised allegations concerning Tinubu’s past, while Nigerian officials have rejected claims that he faces restrictions on attending the UN meeting.
Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Jimoh Ibrahim, had previously said Tinubu and members of his family would have freedom of transit in the United States during the UNGA under the agreement governing access to the UN headquarters.
The development also comes as President Donald Trump’s administration continues its campaign against international drug trafficking networks.
A recent US presidential determination identified 23 countries as major drug transit or illicit drug producing countries for the 2027 fiscal year. Nigeria was not included on the published list.
The Trump administration has also continued efforts to target the financial networks supporting drug cartels. US officials have said the campaign is aimed not only at drugs and weapons but also at criminal finances, facilitators and other networks that help cartels operate.
Reports that Tinubu may skip the UNGA therefore come at a politically sensitive moment, although there is no confirmed evidence that Trump’s drug cartel measures caused the Nigerian President to cancel his trip.
Earlier reports had suggested that Tinubu’s decision could instead be linked to security concerns surrounding planned protests by Nigerians in New York.
The Presidency has not publicly announced that fear of Trump’s policies or a new US executive order was the reason for Tinubu’s reported absence.
Tinubu’s reported withdrawal also follows months of uncertainty over his planned appearance at the UN gathering. In July, Nigeria’s UN representative said the President had confirmed that he would attend the September meeting.
Vice President Kashim Shettima is expected to represent Nigeria if Tinubu does not travel to New York.
NN News Media recalled that Tinubu has recently taken legal action in a US court seeking to prevent the release of records connected to past investigations involving him. The records are being sought by American transparency activist Aaron Greenspan through a Freedom of Information Act case against several US government agencies.
The requested material includes FBI records concerning Tinubu and interview records from the 1992 and 1993 period. The case also involves records connected to a 1993 civil forfeiture proceeding involving about $460,000.
The drug controversy dates back more than three decades. In 1993, US authorities seized and forfeited approximately $460,000 held in accounts connected to Tinubu. The issue later became part of legal challenges surrounding his eligibility to contest Nigeria’s presidency.
Tinubu’s political party, the All Progressives Congress, previously argued that the money was surrendered from bank accounts held in his name or associated with Compass Finance and Investment Co. The party maintained that the forfeiture did not establish that Tinubu had committed drug trafficking.
The distinction is important because civil asset forfeiture is a legal process involving property and does not by itself establish that the property owner was convicted of a crime. US Treasury guidance explains that civil judicial forfeiture is an action against property and does not require a criminal charge against the owner.
Tinubu has denied wrongdoing connected to the drug allegations. The renewed legal battle over the US records has nevertheless brought the decades old controversy back into public attention.
The development comes as Trump has adopted a much tougher approach toward foreign drug trafficking organisations.
In March 2026, Trump issued a presidential proclamation calling for the dismantling of cartels and foreign terrorist organisations operating in the Western Hemisphere and directing US agencies and partners to deprive such groups of territory, financing and resources.
The Trump administration has also expanded its broader drug control strategy to target international trafficking networks, money laundering, cartel leadership and the movement of drugs and precursor chemicals across borders.
The White House says the administration has designated major cartels and transnational gangs as foreign terrorist organisations and has used sanctions, asset seizures and other enforcement powers against them.
The renewed attention instead comes amid an active legal effort in the United States to obtain historical government records concerning Tinubu and allegations dating to his time in the US during the early 1990s.
The situation places the old drug allegations alongside a new US campaign against international drug networks, creating heightened public interest in Tinubu’s planned appearance at the United Nations.
