The National Publicity Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Bolaji Abdullahi, has described the simultaneous absence of President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima from Nigeria as a “very dangerous precedent.”
Abdullahi spoke on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday, amid Tinubu’s continued stay in France and Shettima’s trip to New York to represent the President at the 81st United Nations General Assembly.
Tinubu left Nigeria on August 30 for a working vacation and the Presidency announced on Monday that he had extended his stay by a few days, with plans to return at the weekend. Shettima departed Abuja on September 20 for the UN General Assembly.
The Presidency has said Tinubu remains in contact with officials in Nigeria and continues to direct government affairs despite his absence.
It also said that with Shettima representing the President at the UNGA, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, would continue representing the President at some official engagements.
But Abdullahi questioned the constitutional basis for Akume’s role in the absence of both the President and Vice President.
“Is SGF Akume now the Acting President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria? Is that what they are telling us? Is it the chain of succession that is spelt out by the Nigerian Constitution?” he asked.
The ADC spokesman argued that the situation raised questions about who was exercising presidential authority while both constitutional office holders were outside the country.
“Is the SGF, an appointee of the president, the one who should be in charge of the country when the president and vice president are not around?” he asked.
Abdullahi said the arrangement was capable of setting a precedent with implications beyond the current administration.
“They insult the sensibility of Nigerians, they insult the Constitution,” he said. “What they are doing is dangerous and they should realise that this will end one day. They are setting a very dangerous precedent, nobody is in charge of Nigeria now.”
He also rejected the description of Tinubu’s absence as a “working vacation”, arguing that the Constitution did not provide for a president to effectively relocate outside the country while governance continued through informal arrangements.
The opposition spokesman consequently called for the National Assembly to reconvene from its recess and address what he described as the constitutional questions arising from the President’s absence.
He, however, alleged that the lawmakers would not reconvene because they were too closely aligned with the Tinubu administration.
The controversy comes as the Presidency has defended Tinubu’s absence from the UNGA, saying Shettima is carrying the President’s full mandate and will deliver Nigeria’s national statement at the global gathering.
The Federal Government also said Tinubu’s decision to delegate representation to Shettima was neither unusual nor a diminution of Nigeria’s diplomatic standing.
