Akpabio: Tinubu still in office, no vacancy in Aso Rock

Ayomide Awe

Senate President Godswill Akpabio has rejected calls for President Bola Tinubu to formally transfer presidential powers to Vice President Kashim Shettima, insisting that there is no vacancy in the presidency and that Tinubu remains at the helm of the country.

Akpabio made the position known on Tuesday in Akwa Ibom State amid renewed debate over the constitutional implications of Tinubu’s prolonged stay outside Nigeria.

Tinubu left Nigeria on August 30 for London before traveling to Paris for what the Presidency described as a three-week working holiday. The Presidency subsequently announced that his return had been extended by a few days and that he was due to return to Nigeria at the weekend.

This development has triggered calls from some opposition figures to the National Assembly to verify whether the constitutional requirements for the transfer of presidential functions have been met.

But Akpabio dismissed suggestions that the president’s absence would create a vacancy or make him, as Senate president, an interim president.

“I must correct an impression. I am the President of the Senate and Speaker of the National Assembly, by your grace, the grace of God and the support of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. I am not the interim President of Nigeria because President Tinubu is still in power,” Akpabio said.

According to him, Tinubu’s absence from Nigeria does not amount to an absence from office because the president continued to conduct government affairs remotely.

“The President is on work leave, so there are no absences in Aso Rock. What he cannot do here, he is doing abroad,” he said.

Akpabio pointed to Tinubu’s diplomatic engagements in France as evidence that the president remained active in discharging his responsibilities.

“He was with President Macron on a state visit the other day to discuss bilateral agreements to bring things back to Nigeria,” he said.

He also explained that Shettima’s representation of Nigeria at the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York does not amount to a transfer of presidential authority.

“And then, because he couldn’t attend the UN General Assembly, his vice president left. There is no vacancy,” Akpabio said.

“People who talk are just talking.”

The Senate president further stated that, as president of the National Assembly, he was competent to declare whether there was a vacancy in the presidency.

“I am the only person as Speaker of the National Assembly who can make the voice of the National Assembly heard and say that there is a vacancy and there will be a vacancy. Right now, there is no vacancy,” he said.

“Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is still in power and still running the affairs of Nigeria.”

Akpabio also dismissed concerns about the president’s ability to govern effectively outside the country, arguing that modern communications technology allows government directives to be issued remotely.

“The world has become a global village; you can give instructions from the Internet. So why are people complaining?” he asked.

His comments came against the backdrop of a call by African Action Congress presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore for the National Assembly to invoke section 145(2) of the 1999 Constitution.

Sowore argued that the first three weeks of Tinubu’s absence had passed and questioned whether the President had conveyed the written declaration required under section 145 (1) of the Constitution.

He subsequently challenged Akpabio and Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas to reveal whether they had received such a statement.

“If they have not done so, the 21-day threshold has been crossed and the National Assembly must initiate the process prescribed by Section 145(2) to appoint Vice President Kashim Shettima to perform the duties of the Speaker as Acting President,” Sowore said.

Sowore also rejected the Presidency’s description of Tinubu’s absence as a “working holiday”, arguing that the Constitution does not expressly create such an exception.

However, the Presidency has maintained that Tinubu maintains control of the government despite his absence from Nigeria.

The Presidency said Shettima’s representation of Tinubu in official engagements, including the United Nations General Assembly, was done under the President’s mandate rather than through a transfer of presidential powers.

The federal government also said Shettima will carry out Tinubu’s full mandate at the United Nations General Assembly and issue Nigeria’s national declaration.

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