- NiDCOM Chair Abike Dabiri-Erewa said Turkish officials dismissed reactions to President Tinubu’s stumble as “silly and mischievous”
- Turkish media focused on the success of Tinubu’s visit, while the incident received no mainstream coverage in Türkiye
- The Presidency said the President remained healthy and urged Nigerians to focus on strengthening Nigeria–Türkiye relations
The controversy generated in Nigeria over President Bola Tinubu’s brief stumble during his official visit to Türkiye has been dismissed as “silly” and “mischievous” by Turkish officials, according to the Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa.
Dabiri-Erewa made this known on Wednesday while reacting to a post on X by a user, Oguntoye Opeyemi, who criticised the intense media attention given to the incident in Nigeria. She revealed that officials in Ankara were surprised to learn that the moment had become a subject of public debate back home.
“On ground here in Ankara, their officials were shocked to learn that it was an issue in Nigerian media and blogs,” Dabiri-Erewa wrote. According to her, one Turkish official described the attention as “silly and mischievous”, stressing that the visit itself was being widely celebrated across Türkiye.
She added that Turkish media outlets were focused on what they described as the remarkable success of President Tinubu’s visit, rather than the brief stumble that went viral on Nigerian social media platforms.
Supporting this view, Opeyemi noted that the incident received no coverage in Türkiye’s mainstream media. “Not a single Turkish TV station reported the President’s accidental slip because it’s a non-issue,” he wrote, contrasting it with the extensive coverage by Nigerian television stations and newspapers.
President Tinubu briefly lost his balance on Tuesday during a ceremonial march-past organised in his honour at the parade ground in Ankara. The incident occurred as he joined the guard of honour alongside Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Security operatives quickly assisted him, and the programme continued without disruption.
Despite the circulation of a video of the moment by Turkish digital outlet Nefes Gazetesi and its subsequent spread on X, the Presidency has consistently downplayed the incident. The President’s Special Adviser on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, assured Nigerians that Tinubu remained “hale and hearty” and continued with his official engagements.
Similarly, the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, described the incident as a minor stumble caused by the President stepping on a metal surface, insisting it was being unnecessarily sensationalised.
President Tinubu’s visit, his first official trip to Türkiye, aims to strengthen bilateral relations and expand cooperation in areas including defence, trade, investment, energy, media, and scientific research. The Presidency has urged Nigerians to focus on the outcomes of the visit rather than what it described as a fleeting and inconsequential moment.
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