TICAD9: What Nigeria’s empty booths mean — Peter Obi

Nigeria’s foremost opposition leader, Peter Obi, has issued a sharp criticism of what he termed a “diplomatic embarrassment” following the appearance of empty Nigerian booths at the ongoing Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD9) in Japan.

In a statement posted late Wednesday night, Obi linked the Nigeria’s empty booths to the performance of the current administration.

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He stated, “The empty Nigerian booths in the ongoing Ninth Tokyo International Conference, TICAD9, in Japan do not just define the empty promises of this government for the past two years, they also reflect the consistent emptiness Nigerians have been fed at home by this government. Even the defence being put forward by the government, that they only wanted to have more “strategic engagements”, is the same tired excuse we have heard over and over again.”

Obi further accused the government of deceptive practices.

“This government has mastered the art of throwing around wrong statistics and misleading statements, not to provide real solutions, but to camouflage the emptiness of its performance and the suffering it has inflicted on Nigerians,” he said.

He described the empty booths as a powerful symbol of the nation’s struggles.

“The empty booths at TICAD are not just about a diplomatic embarrassment; they are a clear symbol of the hollow promises and empty governance that our citizens have endured.

“Just as those booths stood empty in Japan, so too have the lives of millions of Nigerians been left empty, with empty hope, empty relief, and empty of the progress they were promised. The truth is unavoidable, the empty booths abroad are a physical reminder of the empty promises at home,” he opined.

Obi concluded his statement with a call for improvement.

“We must do better as a nation,” he added.

Backstory

Nigeria has come under criticism at the ongoing Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD9) in Japan after observers noticed that the country’s booth was left unmanned despite the presence of a large government delegation.

A Nigerian entrepreneur based in Japan, Idris Ayodeji Bello, raised the alarm on social media, expressing embarrassment that Nigeria was the only country without representation at its exhibition stand.

“So ashamed I have now designated myself as Honorary Consul and taken over the booth to engage visitors,” Bello wrote, noting that several Japanese attendees had approached him with questions about Nigeria.