President Bola Tinubu has been out of the country for more than three weeks, and his absence has triggered a debate about his penchant for what many now see as his brazen disregard for Nigeria’s constitution.
He departed Nigeria on August 30, and even though the constitution required him to delegate authority and transfer power to the vice president, he didn’t, even after the 21-day grace period given by the law to transfer power if the president was still unable to discharge his duties and responsibilities as stipulated by the constitution.
President Tinubu was scheduled to return to the country last week after his three-week vacation abroad, but he did not, with the Presidency saying his vacation in Europe has now been extended by one week.
Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, said Tinubu would return home over the weekend.
The statement did not give reasons for the president’s extended stay abroad, but said he was expected to return home “after the working vacation to join the hectic campaign for the January 2027 election.”
What the law says
Section 145 (1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) states that “Whenever the President is proceeding on vacation or is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his Office, he shall transmit a written declaration to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives to that effect, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, the Vice-President shall perform the functions of the President as Acting President.”
Subsection 2 states that “If the President is unable or fails to transmit the written declaration mentioned in subsection (1) of this section within 21 days, the National Assembly shall, by a resolution made by a simple majority of the vote of each House of the National Assembly, mandate the Vice-President to perform the functions of the office of the President as Acting President until the President transmits a letter to the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives that he is now available to resume his functions as President.”
Based on this section, the President is expected to send a written declaration to the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives if he goes on vacation or is unable to perform his duties for more than 21 days. The declaration makes the Vice President the acting President.
However, there is no indication that a largely malleable and pliant national assembly that serves at the pleasure of the president and not the people who elected them will do the needful and what is constitutionally required by making the Vice President an acting President pending the time the president will return to the country.
During the late President Muhammadu Buhari administration, he unfailingly transferred power to his vice, Yemi Osinbajo, whenever he was out of the country, which was something that happened often during his government. The refusal of Tinubu to hand over to Vice President Kashim Shettima is in keeping with what has become a recurring theme of his administration: a blatant disregard for the law.
Since he came to power three years ago, the president has consistently scoffed at the constitution when it comes to his itinerary and stay abroad. There was not a time when he formally transferred power to his vice president when he was travelling abroad. What makes his refusal to officially transfer power to Shettima this time around is the fact that the vice president was also out of the country for some time while the president was away, creating a leadership vacuum in the country.
The provision of the constitution that mandates the president to transfer power to his vice when he is out of the country is not a stipulation whose adherence can be subject to the whims and impulses of the president or his political shenanigans. It is law that is enshrined in our constitution to ensure that presidential authority does not cease with the physical and geographical limitations of the president.
To brazenly disregard this provision that underpins our style of government greatly undermines our democracy. This is not just about the president but the office he occupies and the dangerous precedents that his inappropriate and worrisome actions may set. But there is only so much blame one can apportion to the president; the real enablers of his excesses are the federal lawmakers who cannot, for once, ditch self-interest for the common and public good by applying the law according to the dictates of the Constitution.
