Following the vacation period extension by President Bola Tinubu, the African Democratic Congress has reacted, describing the continued absence as a dangerous disregard for the nation’s constitution.
The opposition became more concerned about the vacuum in Nigeria’s number 1 seat after the Vice-President Kashim Shettima travelled to the U.S. to attend the United Nations General assembly, UNGA.
The ADC in a statement through its national publicity secretary Bolaji Abdullahi quoted Section 145 of the Constitution that 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.
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 which does not confer constitutional powers on him.
ADC said the claim that the President has continued to direct national affairs from abroad only “compounds the absurdity”, saying that a so-called “working vacation” is alien to Nigeria’s Constitution.
The statement noted that Presidential authority cannot be transferred by convenience, protocol or press statement, explaining that it is not a private enterprise to be managed remotely from a holiday destination.”
The ADC said it was particularly troubling that the President and Vice-President were simultaneously absent while Nigerians confronted worsening insecurity, unemployment and an unbearable cost-of-living crisis.
The party called on the Presidency and the National Assembly to provide a direct answer to one question, demanding to know whether the required declaration was transmitted by the President and If he did not, it seeks to know why the National Assembly has ignored Section 145 of the Constitution.
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(Editor: Nkoli Omhoudu)
