Akpabio Speaks on Assuming Power As Acting President Following Tinubu’s Absence
Senate President Godswill Akpabio has rejected claims that he is serving as Nigeria’s Acting President while President Bola Tinubu remains abroad and Vice-President Kashim Shettima is in the United States.
Speaking on Tuesday in Akwa Ibom State, Akpabio said Tinubu had not relinquished presidential authority and that no vacancy existed in the office of the President.
“I am the Senate President and not the acting President of Nigeria because President Tinubu is still in power. He’s on a working leave, and there’s no absence in Aso Rock,” he said.
Tinubu departed Nigeria on August 30 for what the Presidency described as a three-week working vacation.
His stay was later extended by several days, with officials saying he was expected to return at the weekend.
The Presidency has maintained that Tinubu remains in communication with government officials and continues to direct the affairs of the country from abroad. The President is currently in France, while Shettima travelled to New York on September 20 to represent Nigeria at the 81st United Nations General Assembly.
The absence of both men has prompted renewed debate over the constitutional process for transferring presidential responsibilities. Opposition politicians and political parties have urged the National Assembly to clarify whether the requirements of Section 145 of the Constitution have been met.
Akpabio dismissed the suggestion that the situation had produced a constitutional vacuum. He said the National Assembly could declare a vacancy only in circumstances recognised by law and insisted that Tinubu remained in office.
According to him, he is the “only person who can declare a vacancy and there will be a vacancy.”
“Right now, there is no vacancy. Asiwaju Tinubu is still in power, and he’s still running the affairs of Nigeria.
“The world is a global village, you can give instructions from the internet. So why are people complaining?” he said.
Sowore said the end of the President’s initial 21-day period required the National Assembly to determine whether Section 145 had been properly applied. He also challenged Akpabio and House of Representatives Speaker Tajudeen Abbas to state whether Tinubu had transmitted the required declaration.
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