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Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has questioned the constitutional status of President Bola Tinubu’s continued absence from Nigeria, asking who is currently exercising presidential authority as the 21-day period announced for the President’s annual vacation expires.
In a statement issued on Monday and made available to the Daily Sun, Atiku, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and Vice-President from 1999 to 2007, said Nigerians were entitled to seek clarification on the constitutional arrangements governing the President’s absence.
“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,” Atiku said.
“Today, Nigerians are entitled to ask a very simple constitutional question: Who is in charge of Nigeria?”
Atiku cited Section 145 of the Constitution, which he said requires the President to transmit a written declaration to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives whenever he proceeds on vacation, allowing the Vice-President to perform the functions of President as Acting President.
He said President Tinubu left Nigeria on August 30, but that Nigerians had not been shown any written declaration transmitting presidential authority to Vice-President Kashim Shettima
“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,” he said.
“The 21 days have now elapsed. If such a letter exists, the Presidency should publish it immediately.”
Atiku further argued that if no declaration had been transmitted within the period prescribed by the Constitution, the National Assembly should explain why the procedure 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 former Vice-President also drew attention to Shettima’s presence in New York, where he is representing Tinubu at the 81st 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, the third consecutive UN General Assembly at which President Tinubu has delegated Nigeria’s representation to his deputy,” Atiku said.
“So again: who is exercising presidential authority in Nigeria today, and under what constitutional instrument?”
Atiku said the country could not be governed through assumptions or informal indications of presidential activity while the President remained abroad.
“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 said.
He also referred to the deaths of 37 Nigerians in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Minna, Niger State, as well as rising petrol prices and the wider economic pressures facing Nigerians.
“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,” Atiku said.
The former Vice-President also referred to Tinubu’s private dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, arguing that the President’s diplomatic engagements abroad should not obscure the need for clarity over the exercise of presidential powers.
“President Tinubu’s private dinner with President Emmanuel Macron in Paris may serve diplomatic purposes. But Nigeria itself cannot be placed on vacation,” he said.
“The Constitution does not recognise a ‘working vacation’ as an alternative system of presidential succession.
“It provides a procedure. That procedure must be obeyed.”
Atiku consequently called on the Presidency to disclose whether Tinubu transmitted the declaration contemplated by Section 145(1) before leaving the country.
He also urged the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives to state whether they received such a communication.
“And if no declaration was transmitted within the constitutionally stipulated period, the National Assembly must explain why the procedure provided by Section 145(2) has not been activated,” he said.
Atiku said Nigerians deserved clear and constitutionally grounded leadership amid economic hardship, rising energy costs, security challenges and the deaths of citizens in government custody.
“Nigeria is bigger than any President. At a time of severe economic hardship, rising energy costs, security challenges and the shocking deaths of citizens in government custody, the country deserves visible, accountable and constitutionally grounded leadership.
“The question will not disappear: Who, constitutionally, is in charge of Nigeria?” he said.
