Former Vice President and ADC presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has asked the Presidency and the National Assembly to clarify who is constitutionally exercising presidential powers as President Bola Tinubu’s three-week vacation ends.
In a statement on Monday titled “Who is in Charge of Nigeria?”, Atiku said 21 days have elapsed since President Tinubu left the country on August 30 on what the Presidency described as a three-week annual vacation, without Nigerians seeing evidence of compliance with Section 145 of the Constitution.
Atiku said Section 145(1) requires the President to transmit a written declaration to the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives whenever he proceeds on vacation, to enable the Vice President to act as President.
He noted that Section 145(2) further provides that where the President fails to transmit that declaration within 21 days, the National Assembly shall by a simple majority of each House mandate the Vice President to perform the functions of President as Acting President.
“If such a letter exists, the Presidency should publish it immediately,” Atiku said. “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.”
The former Vice President said the situation is made more disturbing by the fact that Vice President Kashim Shettima is currently in New York representing Nigeria at the United Nations General Assembly – which he described as the third consecutive UNGA that President Tinubu has delegated to his deputy.
“So again: who is exercising presidential authority in Nigeria today, and under what constitutional instrument?” he queried.
Atiku argued that Nigeria cannot be governed by assumptions, presidential social-media posts from Europe, or photographs from private dinners at the Élysée Palace, referring to President Tinubu’s reported private dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris.
He cited current national challenges to underscore his demand for constitutional clarity, including the death of 37 Nigerians in NSCDC custody in Minna, and the sale of petrol for as much as N1,500 per litre in parts of the country.
“These are not ordinary times. Yet the President is abroad. The Vice President is abroad. The Senate President is abroad,” Atiku said.
He called on the Presidency to disclose whether President Tinubu transmitted the declaration contemplated by Section 145(1) before travelling, and asked the Senate President and Speaker to confirm whether such communication was received.
“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.
“Nigeria is bigger than any President. The Constitution does not recognise a ‘working vacation’ as an alternative system of presidential succession. It provides a procedure. That procedure must be obeyed,” the statement added.
The Presidency and the leadership of the National Assembly are yet to respond to the issues raised in the statement as of press time.
