The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has challenged President Bola Tinubu and the National Assembly to explain who currently exercises the constitutional powers of the President, following Tinubu’s continued absence from Nigeria alongside Vice-President Kashim Shettima.
The opposition party, in a statement on Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said Tinubu’s absence since August 30 had exceeded 21 days, raising questions over compliance with Section 145 of the Constitution.
The ADC said the provision requires the President, when proceeding on vacation for a period exceeding 21 days, to transmit a written declaration to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, empowering the Vice-President to perform the functions of Acting President.
“President Tinubu left Nigeria on 30 August 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 party said.
The Presidency announced on Monday that Tinubu had extended his working vacation in Europe by a few days and would return to Nigeria at the weekend. It said the President had remained in touch with officials at home and continued to direct government affairs from abroad.
The ADC, however, rejected the Presidency’s explanation of a “working vacation” and its reliance on Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, to represent the President at official events, describing the arrangement as “an absurdity that raises more questions than it answers.”
“Representing the President at events and ceremonies does not confer constitutional powers. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation is a mere appointee of the President. He may attend events or deliver speeches on the President’s behalf, but he cannot exercise the constitutional powers of the President or Acting President,” the party said.
“Representation is not governance. Attendance at official functions is not presidential authority. Nigeria cannot be governed through ceremonial proxies, telephone calls and press statements issued from foreign capitals.”
The party argued that the Presidency’s description of Tinubu’s stay abroad as a “working vacation” did not remove the President’s constitutional obligations, saying, “There is no constitutional category known as a ‘working vacation’.”
“Presidential authority cannot be transferred by convenience, protocol or press statement. Nigeria is a constitutional democracy, not a private enterprise to be managed remotely from a holiday destination,” it added.
The controversy comes as Shettima is also outside Nigeria, having departed Abuja on September 20 for New York to represent Tinubu at the 81st United Nations General Assembly, where he is scheduled to deliver Nigeria’s national statement.
The Presidency said Akume would continue representing the President at official functions while Shettima is away.
The ADC said the simultaneous absence of the President and Vice-President was particularly troubling amid insecurity, unemployment and the rising cost of living confronting Nigerians.
It also described as a “national disgrace” the situation in which French President Emmanuel Macron was in New York for the UN General Assembly while Tinubu remained in Paris, where he had met Macron during his stay in 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 said.
The ADC added: “President Tinubu cannot be vacationing in Paris while President Macron is in New York representing France and expect Nigerians to accept that it is okay for their President to continue to hang around in a country after the host has left to attend to more important things. This is not merely poor optics. It is a national embarrassment.”
The party therefore demanded a direct response from the Presidency and the National Assembly to what it described as the central constitutional question: “Who presently exercises the constitutional powers of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and under what provision of the Constitution?”
