The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has described the absence of President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima from Nigeria as a violation of the Constitution.
The ADC, in a statement on Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said the absence of Tinubu and Shettima is a dangerous disregard for the Constitution.
The opposition party insisted that Section 145 of the Constitution requires the President, when proceeding on vacation for a period of up to 21 days, to transmit a written declaration to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, after which the Vice-President performs the functions of Acting President.
It, however, stated that Tinubu has been out of the country for over 21 days without transmitting power.
“President Tinubu left Nigeria on 30 August and has now been away for more than 21 days. We therefore demand to know whether the required declaration was transmitted by the President. If he did not, we would like to know why the National Assembly has ignored Section 145 of the Constitution,” the ADC said.
The opposition party also rejected the Presidency’s explanation that the President was on a “working vacation” or that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, would represent President Tinubu at official events, dismissing it as “an absurdity that raises more questions than it answers.”
The ADC insisted that Akume can not exercise the constitutional powers of a president.
“Representing the President at events and ceremonies does not confer constitutional powers. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation is a mere appointee of the President. He may attend events or deliver speeches on the President’s behalf, but he cannot exercise the constitutional powers of the President or Acting President.
“Representation is not governance. Attendance at official functions is not presidential authority. Nigeria cannot be governed through ceremonial proxies, telephone calls and press statements issued from foreign capitals,” the party said.
The party also rejected the argument that the President has continued to direct national affairs from abroad, saying it only “compounds the absurdity”, and that a so-called “working vacation” does not remove the President’s constitutional obligations under Section 145.
“There is no constitutional category known as a ‘working vacation’. Presidential authority cannot be transferred by convenience, protocol or press statement. Nigeria is a constitutional democracy, not a private enterprise to be managed remotely from a holiday destination,” Abdullahi said.
The ADC said it was particularly troubling that both the President and Vice-President were simultaneously absent from the country while Nigerians confronted worsening insecurity, unemployment and an unbearable cost-of-living crisis.
The ADC also described as a “national disgrace” the fact that President Emmanuel Macron of France is in New York attending the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), while President Tinubu remains in Paris, the capital of France, on vacation.
The party added that it is unacceptable to ask Nigerians to accept such developments.
“The irony would be amusing if it were not a national disgrace. At a time when world leaders are advancing their countries’ interests at the United Nations General Assembly, Nigeria’s President is holed up in the French capital while his host has left to pursue his own country’s national interest.
“President Tinubu cannot be vacationing in Paris while President Macron is in New York representing France and expect Nigerians to accept that it is okay for their President to continue to hang around in a country after the host has left to attend to more important things. This is not merely poor optics. It is a national embarrassment,” the ADC said.
The party challenged the Presidency and the National Assembly to provide a direct answer to one question:
“Who presently exercises the constitutional powers of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and under what provision of the Constitution?”
