Chatham House currently tops the trends on Nigeria’s Twitter following Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s conversation with Nigerians in diaspora.

Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress’ presidential candidate, was billed to speak on security, economy and foreign policy imperatives as a frontrunner in Nigeria’s upcoming general election. However, the candidate, on being asked questions, delegated his aides and party members to address them.

This sparked outrage on social media because Nigerians had long demanded an appearance to hear Tinubu respond to their pressing concerns.

Nigeria's 2023 elections: In conversation with Bola Ahmed Tinubu (@officialABAT).

Join us later today as Bola Ahmed Tinubu, presidential candidate in 🇳🇬's upcoming election, joins Alex Vines (@AfricaProg) in conversation.

Livestream📺 here:https://t.co/KrA80WeAGf

— Chatham House (@ChathamHouse) December 5, 2022

Reacting to the event, Shehu Gazali Sadiq, a Twitter user, wrote, “Tinubu cannot speak for himself. Show of shame.”

Another user, Bwala Daniel stated, “Chatham house show of shame. You want to be the president but avoiding answering questions, instead you are re-directing the answers to El-Rufai, Alake and co. Nigerians want to be governed by a person, not a robot who cannot exercise independent thought in answering questions.”

READ ALSO: Nigerians Protest Outside Chatham House as Tinubu Speaks in the UK

Frank Zephyr 1, as identified on Twitter, also wrote, “This is so weird and absurd. Why are other people answering the questions to Bola Tinubu? Why is @elrufai answering for BAT? Allow the actual candidate answer the question na.”

Kelechi Imo, another Twitter user, stated, “A vote for Bola Tinubu is an access to live in bondage. If after seeing the interview of him in Chatham House, you still feel he is the solution to Nigerians’ problems, then, you are the reason we are where we are today!”

Tinubu’s live press meeting coincided with multiple requests from Nigerians for him to attend town hall meetings and live debates in Nigeria with other presidential candidates. And when asked why he had declined speaking with Nigerians using local media, the presidential candidate said, “I see myself as a marketable individual. They want to use me to make money and I said no.”

READ ALSO: 2023 Election: Tinubu Pulls Out of First Presidential Debate

Gabriel Dunsworth, a Twitter user, stated, “Tinubu ran away from Nigerian media houses to Chatham House in London to still delegate questions directed at him to Ben Ayade, El-Rufai and co to answer for him. This is an embarrassment to a presidential candidate of any serious country. This fraud needs to be dumped”

“Why can’t Mr Tinubu answer very important questions himself? Why delegate his proxies to answer these questions? Why would a noble organization like yours allow this kind of charade? Is Tinubu going to rule Nigeria with proxies if elected? This is bizarre, to say the least. Shameful,” Hafsatu Danladi noted.

Another user, who identifies as Prettycachy, also wrote, “Why is BAT not answering the questions himself? Why do we have APC members asking these questions?

“This is an absolute waste of time & data. Imagine the presidential candidate asking ‘team members’ to answer questions thrown. The only sensible question was from a lady that told him she wanted him to answer himself. Will he delegate speech at the UN or other larger events?” Abiodun asked.

In response to the event, Wuyi Oyetunde also wrote, “This is a shame. Why invite a candidate only for proxies to answer questions on his behalf?”

The general atmosphere following the press interview seems to be disappointment. Nonetheless, there are also outliers who have expressed optimism and delight with the candidates performance.

Raji Sodiq, as identified on Twitter, stated, “He is ‘Asiwaju’ for a reason. I don’t understand why people have a problem with his style of allowing members of his team to answer some of the questions. With Lagos, he already showed he’s a leader that listens to his team.That’s the type of leader we need, as no one knows it all.”

Cerdeeq, as identified on Twitter, also stated, “That was one impressive conversation @officialABAT and his elite team had at @ChathamHouse with other Nigerians in Diaspora.”

Another user, Jafaru Okunchi Hadi, noted that this was “the best of all interactions so far”. ” Jagaban come 2023 In Sha Allah,” he added.