Senate President Godswill Akpabio says President Bola Tinubu remains in charge of Nigeria despite his extended stay abroad, as questions grow over the absence of both the president and vice-president from the country.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio has dismissed suggestions of a leadership vacuum in Nigeria, insisting that President Bola Tinubu remains in charge despite his continued absence from the country.
Akpabio spoke on Tuesday in Akwa Ibom State while inaugurating road projects executed by Governor Umo Eno.
His comments came amid renewed public debate over Tinubu’s extended working vacation and the simultaneous absence of Vice-President Kashim Shettima, who is currently in New York for the 81st United Nations General Assembly.
“I am not the acting president, because the president is still in power. The president is on a working leave. So, there’s no absence in Aso Rock,” Akpabio said.
Tinubu left Nigeria on August 30 for London before travelling to Paris, where he met French President Emmanuel Macron and businessman Vincent Bolloré.
The Presidency announced on September 21 that Tinubu had extended his working vacation by a few days and would return to Nigeria at the weekend. It also said he had remained in contact with officials at home and continued directing government affairs while abroad.
What Akpabio says about Tinubu’s absence
Akpabio argued that Tinubu’s physical absence from Nigeria does not prevent him from performing his presidential responsibilities.
“What he cannot do here, he is doing abroad. The world has become a global village; you can give instructions from the internet about anything, so why are people complaining?” he said.
He pointed to Tinubu’s recent engagement with Macron as an example of the president continuing to conduct official business while abroad.
Akpabio also said Shettima’s attendance at the UNGA did not amount to a transfer of presidential power.
“And then, because he could not make it to UNGA, the United Nations General Assembly, his vice-president went,” he said.
The Presidency has similarly said Shettima is representing Tinubu at the UNGA and will deliver Nigeria’s national statement.
The constitutional question
The controversy is partly centred on Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
The provision states that when a president proceeds on vacation or is otherwise unable to perform the functions of office, the president is to transmit a written declaration to the Senate president and Speaker of the House of Representatives, after which the vice-president performs the functions as acting president.
The same section provides that if the president fails to transmit such a declaration within 21 days, the National Assembly can, by a simple majority in each chamber, mandate the vice-president to perform the functions of the office as acting president.
Akpabio, however, maintains that there is currently no presidential vacancy.
“Right now, there is no vacancy. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is still in power and is still running the affairs of Nigeria,” he said.
He added that, as chairman of the National Assembly, he was the appropriate authority to speak on the issue.
“There’s no vacancy; people who are talking are just talking. I’m the only person as chairman of national assembly that can speak the voice of national assembly and say there is vacancy and there will be vacancy,” Akpabio said.
His comments followed calls from some opposition figures and critics for Tinubu to formally transfer presidential functions to Shettima during his extended absence.
For now, the Presidency says Tinubu remains in charge from abroad and is expected back in Nigeria at the weekend. Akpabio has also rejected suggestions that he is acting president.
The immediate question, therefore, is not whether Akpabio is acting president. He says he is not.
It is whether Tinubu’s continued absence, alongside the vice-president’s presence in the United States, requires any further constitutional step.
That question is likely to remain part of the public debate until the president returns.
