An X post claimed that President Tinubu and other world leaders were not invited to the inauguration ceremony of President Donald Trump.
The claim posted on January 20, 2025 by a verified X user, Pastor Okezie J. Atani with the caption, “Dear Ob!diot influencers and their fellow Ob!diot followers rejoicing that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR @officialABAT wasn't invited by Donald Trump for gis inauguration….Can you show me any President of any other country that was there? Can you show me any world leader that was present? If you can't then know that Peter Obi will NEVER EVER be President but if you show me any world leader that was there Peter Obi MAY become President in 2098. Shall we?
This post has attracted over 10,100 views, more than 51 comments, 44 plus in retweets and quotes, over 158 likes and 2 bookmarks as of the time this report was published.
Lancerem in the comment section wrote, “They are useless fellow that likes gaslighting at every turn of events unnecessarily.”, while @okekeantho87088 commented, “Salary earner”
VERIFICATION
NV-A searched for keywords including ‘list of world leaders not invited by Trump,’ ‘did Tinubu get an invitation by Trump,’ and the results led to a report from an e-paper, Mint. The report noted that the UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer; Germany’s President, Olaf Scholz; European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen; French President, Emmanuel Macron. Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau; Chinese President, Xi Jinping were invited but could not attend due to other official engagements, while former Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro could not attend because his passport has been seized.
Mint reported that the world leaders who were invited and attended the event included Ecuador’s President, Daniel Noboa; Argentina’s President, Javier Milei; Italy’s Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni; Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
There were no news reports with details about any invitation extended to Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu. It is however documented that he congratulated Trump following his election victory. It is also worth noting that President Tinubu returned from the United Arab Emirates less than 24 hours to Trump’s inauguration.
By custom, foreign leaders do not attend inaugurations of U.S. presidents. This has been the standing precedent since time immemorial. But, Trump is the first president in U.S. history to invite world leaders and political figures around the world. According to the New York Post and Mint, Trump invited China’s Xi Jinping, El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni to his inauguration.
Also, pro-Western former Georgia President Salome Zourabichvili attended the ceremony as a guest of the U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson. PBS reported that Taiwan sent legislative speaker Han Kuo-yu and seven others to Washington for the inauguration. The Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, and Japanese counterpart, Takeshi Iwaya, attended as well. Trump’s transition team also invited UK’s Reform Party leader, Nigel Farage who attended the event.
CONCLUSION
The claim that President Bola Tinubu and other world leaders were not invited to President Donald Trump's 2025 inauguration is TRUE as some notable world leaders like the French and German President, UK Prime Minister were not invited for the event. However, the New York Post and Mint reported that the leaders of China, Ecuador, Argentina, Italy, Hungary and El Salvador were invited to Trump’s inauguration held on January 20, 2025.
