Senate President Godswill Akpabio has broken his silence over President Bola Tinubu’s prolonged stay outside Nigeria, insisting that there is no power vacuum in the country.
Akpabio, who spoke in Akwa Ibom State on Tuesday, also dismissed suggestions that he had assumed presidential powers because Tinubu and Vice-President Kashim Shettima are currently outside the country.
Declaring that he was not the acting President, Akpabio said Tinubu remained in charge and was still directing the affairs of Nigeria from abroad.
“By your grace, the grace of God, and the support of President Bola Tinubu, I am not the acting president. Because the President is still in power,” he said.
According to him, Tinubu’s absence from the country should not be interpreted as a leadership vacuum, describing the President’s trip as a working leave.
“So, there is no absence at Aso Rock. What he cannot do here, he is doing abroad,” Akpabio said.
He cited Tinubu’s recent diplomatic engagement with French President Emmanuel Macron and said the President had continued to perform his responsibilities despite being outside Nigeria.
Akpabio also noted that Shettima had represented Nigeria at the ongoing United Nations General Assembly in New York after Tinubu could not attend.
The Senate President dismissed suggestions that Nigeria currently lacked a clear authority at the highest level, insisting that he was the appropriate authority to speak on whether there was a vacancy in the Presidency.
“There is no vacancy. People who are talking are just talking. I am the only person, as Chairman of the National Assembly, who can speak for the National Assembly and say there is a vacancy and there will be a vacancy.
“Right now, there is no vacancy. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is still in power, and he is still running the affairs of Nigeria,” he said.
He argued that advances in technology had made it possible for a President to direct government business from anywhere in the world.
But the issue has continued to generate political and constitutional debate, particularly over Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution.
The African Democratic Congress has demanded clarification on whether Tinubu transmitted a written declaration to the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives, as required when a President proceeds on vacation or is unable to perform his functions.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said Nigerians deserved to know whether the constitutional procedure had been followed.
Tinubu left Nigeria on August 30 for what the Presidency initially described as a three-week working vacation in Europe.
The period elapsed around September 20, but the Presidency later announced that the President had extended his stay and would return to Nigeria at the weekend.
His continued absence has also attracted criticism from former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, who questioned the constitutional basis for the situation and referred to Section 145.
The Presidency has maintained that Tinubu remains in charge and that his absence from Nigeria does not prevent him from exercising his presidential responsibilities.
Akpabio’s comments have now reinforced that position, as the debate over Tinubu’s extended stay abroad and the constitutional procedure for transferring presidential powers continues.
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