Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar on Monday questioned the constitutional basis of President Bola Tinubu’s continued stay abroad, asking who is exercising presidential authority after the announced three-week vacation period elapsed.
— “Who is in charge of Nigeria?”—
In a statement, Atiku said: “Twenty-one days have come and gone since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu left Nigeria on what the Presidency described as a three-week annual vacation. Today, Nigerians are entitled to ask a very simple constitutional question: Who is in charge of Nigeria?”
He noted that Tinubu departed on August 30 but that no written declaration transmitting presidential powers to Vice-President Kashim Shettima under Section 145 of the Constitution had been made public.
“President Tinubu left Nigeria on 30 August. The Presidency publicly announced a three-week vacation. Yet, to date, Nigerians have not been shown any constitutional letter transmitting presidential authority to Vice President Kashim Shettima,” Atiku said. “The 21 days have now elapsed. If such a letter exists, the Presidency should publish it immediately.”
Atiku added that if no declaration had been transmitted, the National Assembly should explain why the mechanism under Section 145(2) had not been activated. “If it does not, then the constitutional mechanism contemplated by Section 145(2) has been triggered, and the National Assembly owes Nigerians an explanation as to why it has not acted,” he said. “This is not a matter of political convenience. It is a matter of constitutional order.”
—”The situation is made even more disturbing”—
The former vice-president also pointed to Shettima’s presence in New York, where he is representing Nigeria at the United Nations General Assembly. “The situation is made even more disturbing by the fact that Vice President Shettima is himself presently in New York representing Nigeria at the United Nations General Assembly,” Atiku said. “So again: who is exercising presidential authority in Nigeria today, and under what constitutional instrument?”
He argued that the country could not be run by assumptions or social-media posts. “Nigeria cannot be governed by assumptions. It cannot be governed by presidential social-media posts from Europe. It cannot be governed by photographs from private dinners at the Élysée Palace. It cannot be governed on autopilot,” he stated.
Atiku referenced recent challenges, including the deaths of 37 Nigerians in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Minna, rising petrol prices and broader economic pressures. “These are not ordinary times. Yet the President is abroad. The Vice President is abroad. The Senate President is abroad. And Nigerians have not been told, in the clear constitutional language required of a serious democracy, who is exercising the powers of the President,” he said.
Senate President Akpabio on ‘Spiritual Trip’
Senate President Godswill Akpabio is currently out of the country. He recently traveled to Italy on a spiritual trip and pilgrimage to Rome and San Giovanni Rotondo.
He said he “travelled to Rome to pray for Nigerians and against insecurity, terrorism and banditry.”
He called on the Presidency to disclose whether the required declaration was transmitted and urged the leaders of the National Assembly to confirm whether they received it. “Nigeria is bigger than any President,” Atiku concluded. “The question will not disappear: Who, constitutionally, is in charge of Nigeria?”
