•Tinubu jets out
President Bola Tinubu has been chided for not handing over power to Vice President Kashim Shettima after spending more than 21 days abroad on working leave.
Oyo State governor and presidential candidate of the Allied People’s Movement (APM), Seyi Makinde, stated this yesterday at the North-West town hall meeting organised by the Makinde/Daura Presidential Campaign Organisation in Katsina State, reports The Guardian.
Also, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) described the continued absence of the President, without handing over to Shettima, as dangerous and a disregard for the Constitution.
The party, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, cited Section 145 of the Constitution, which requires the President, when proceeding on vacation for a period of up to 21 days, to transmit a written declaration to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, after which the Vice President performs the functions of the President in acting capacity.
Consequently, the presidential candidate of African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2027 general election and activist, Omoyele Sowore, urged the National Assembly to invoke Section 145(2) of the Constitution and mandate VP Shettima to perform the functions of the President as Acting President.
But the presidency said Tinubu could continue to govern Nigeria from anywhere in the world, insisting that his constitutional powers were not limited by his physical location.
Makinde said it was concerning that Tinubu was on working leave and had been out of the country for more than 21 days. He said, constitutionally, the president ought to have handed over power to his vice if he would be out of the country for such a number of days.
Tinubu had departed Nigeria on August 30 for London to begin his three-week vacation. He spent a week in London before moving to Paris, France, where he met with President Emmanuel Macron.
Makinde said: “Anytime I have to travel out, not for work but on vacation, for more than 21 days, I transmit power to the deputy governor. Why is this not happening at the national level?
“If the president is unable, whether through sickness, a medical trip or incapacitation, to function, we are all human; anything can happen to anybody at any time. If that happens, the president should also transmit power to the vice president.”
ADC said: “President Tinubu left Nigeria on August 30 and has now been away for more than 21 days. We, therefore, demand to know whether the required declaration was transmitted by the president. If he did not, we would like to know why the National Assembly has ignored Section 145 of the Constitution”
The opposition party also rejected the presidency’s explanation that the president was on a “working vacation” or that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, would represent the President at official events, dismissing it as “an absurdity that raises more questions than it answers.”
The ADC also described as a “national disgrace” the fact that President Macron of France is in New York attending the United Nations General Assembly, while Tinubu is in Paris, the capital of France.
“The irony would be amusing if it were not a national disgrace. At a time when world leaders are advancing their countries’ interests at the United Nations General Assembly, Nigeria’s President is holed up in the French capital while his host has left to pursue his own country’s national interest.”
The party called on the Presidency and the National Assembly to provide a direct answer to one question:
In a statement, Sowore noted that there had been no public confirmation that a declaration under Section 145(1) transferring presidential functions to Shettima had been transmitted.
He, therefore, called on Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas, to clarify whether they had received the declaration required under the Constitution.
Sowore also rejected the presidency’s description of Tinubu’s stay abroad as a “working vacation,” arguing that the Constitution did not provide such an exception.
He said the presidency’s claim that Tinubu continued to direct the affairs of government from abroad did not resolve what he described as the constitutional question surrounding the president’s absence.
The presidency had said Tinubu remained engaged with the affairs of government while abroad and had extended his working vacation by a few days.
Special Adviser to the President on Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala, while reacting to questions from opposition figures over who is in charge of the country as Tinubu and Shettima were both outside Nigeria, said the president’s ability to exercise his constitutional responsibilities does not depend on his location.
“It is funny how opposition candidates are asking the question who is in charge of Nigeria simply because the president and vice president are out of the country,” he wrote in a post on X.
He added that Tinubu, as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, could direct and administer Nigeria’s affairs from anywhere.
