For the second time in less than three years, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu briefly stumbled and fell during a ceremonial march-past organised in his honour at the parade ground in Ankara, capital of Turkey on Tuesday, January 27, 2026.
The first time was in June 2024 when the President slipped and fell at an official event to mark 25 years of democracy in Nigeria.
President Tinubu
Then, the president, aged 72, fell as he climbed down the steps on a vehicle meant to take him around Eagle Square in Abuja. He had to be helped back to his feet by aides.
Later that evening, while giving a speech at the banquet dinner organised as part of the day’s events, Tinubu described the incident as ‘Buga’. “I was all over social media after falling. I just buga,” he noted.
Although, other reports indicate the first buga to have taken place in March 2021, during campaign for his presidency when he tripped over his foot and stumbled in Kaduna State, crashing between two chairs on arrival at the 11th Arewa House Lecture, we couldn’t immediately verify this.
But this time around, the buga incident occurred in far away Turkey as he joined his host, President Recep Erdogan to inspect the guard of honour mounted in his honour.
President Tinubu left Nigeria for Turkey on Monday, January 26.
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Bayo Onanuga, presidential spokesperson, said the president’s visit was meant to strengthen the “existing cordial relations between the two countries and exploring further areas of cooperation in security, education, social development, innovation, and aviation”.
Onanuga noted that finance, communication, trade and investment would dominate political and diplomatic discussions between both countries during Tinubu’s visit.
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Onanuga reportedly clarified that the President merely stepped on an object, resulting in a minor loss of balance. “The President stepped on a metal on the floor, which made him lose his balance. This is not a big deal, except for those who want to make mischief out of a fleeting incident. It was a mere stumble, thank God, not a fall,” he added.
