By Odita Sunday
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has called on the Presidency and the National Assembly to clarify who is currently exercising the constitutional powers of the President, following President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s continued absence from Nigeria.
The opposition party, in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, on Tuesday, cited Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution in questioning whether the required written declaration had been transmitted to the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives.
According to the ADC, Tinubu left Nigeria on August 30 and has now been away for more than 21 days, a period which the party said raises questions about the constitutional procedure governing presidential absence.
“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 party said.
The ADC also rejected the explanation that the President was on a “working vacation”, arguing that attendance at official functions on behalf of the President does not confer presidential constitutional powers on the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume.
“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,” the party said.
It argued that while the SGF could attend events or deliver speeches on behalf of the President, he could not exercise the constitutional powers of the President or Acting President.
The party further contended that the President’s reported ability to continue directing affairs of government from abroad did not, in its view, remove the constitutional requirements relating to presidential absence.
“There is no constitutional category known as a ‘working vacation’. Presidential authority cannot be transferred by convenience, protocol or press statement,” the ADC said.
The party also raised concerns over the simultaneous absence of Tinubu and Vice-President Kashim Shettima, against the backdrop of challenges it identified as insecurity, unemployment and the rising cost of living.
The ADC further criticised Tinubu’s stay in Paris while French President Emmanuel Macron was in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, describing the situation as a “national disgrace.”
The party argued that the development created an unfavourable impression about Nigeria’s representation at a time when world leaders were attending the UN General Assembly to advance their respective countries’ interests.
The ADC therefore called on the Presidency and the National Assembly to provide a direct answer to what it described as a fundamental constitutional question: “Who presently exercises the constitutional powers of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and under what provision of the Constitution?”
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