President Bola Tinubu’s Senior Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs and Protocol, Ademola Oshodi, has dismissed claims that the United States could arrest the Nigerian president, describing such suggestions as “pure nonsense” and politically motivated.
Oshodi stated this while fielding questions on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
Oshodi’s comment came after the Presidency confirmed that Tinubu will not be physically present at the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly, UNGA, in New York, United States.
He argued that the United States would not arrest a sitting head of state, citing former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, former Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as examples of foreign leaders who visited or had dealings with the United States despite political differences.
“There is absolutely no impediment. You know, for absolutely no reason, it is pure politics. This election season is a silly season of people saying things for electoral advantage. It is that simple,” Oshodi said.
“You know, in any situation, they would not. I repeat, America would not, in any case, arrest any heads of state.
“Muammar Gaddafi, you know of Libya, the guy in Cuba, Castro, you know the Ayatollah Khomeini. There’s so many people that touch the grounds of the United Nations that the Americans did not want.
“You know Bola Tinubu, the president, has been in America. I was there with him twice. I was doing everything prior to that before he was president.
“So this is pure nonsense, and it’s politics.”
UNGA 81: US didn’t arrest Gaddafi, Castro, Ayatollah Khomeini – Tinubu’s aide