President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has extended his working vacation in Europe by a few days and will return this weekend, the Presidency announced on Monday.
But African Democratic Congress (ADC) Presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar and his party protested the extension.
The party even threatened a legal challenge to the action.
Tinubu left Abuja on August 30 for an initial three-week vacation, beginning in London, United Kingdom. The original schedule would have seen the President return at the weekend.
Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said yesterday that the President had extended the vacation by “a few days” and would return to the country at the weekend.
The Presidency said Tinubu had remained actively engaged in the affairs of the country throughout the vacation, issuing directives and maintaining communication with officials at home.
After spending about a week in London, the President travelled to Paris, France, where he held engagements with French President Emmanuel Macron and businessman Vincent Bolloré.
Tinubu met Bolloré on Friday for talks on expanding investment in Nigeria’s creative and digital economy. The Bolloré Group’s media and digital interests include Canal+, MultiChoice and Universal Music Group.
According to the Presidency, the President has continued to direct affairs of state while abroad, including ordering an investigation into the reported deaths of 37 suspected illegal miners following their detention by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Niger State.
Tinubu on Friday ordered a full and transparent investigation into the incident, insisting that enforcement of the law must not result in violations of the rights and dignity of people in government custody.
He also directed that any official found by the investigation to have contributed to the deaths through action, abuse or negligence should be prosecuted.
The Presidency said Vice President Kashim Shettima had also continued to represent Tinubu at designated official functions during the President’s absence.
Onanuga said the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, who has also been representing Tinubu at official events, would continue to perform such assignments.
On the political front, the statement said the Director-General of the Presidential Campaign Council, Senator Abubakar Yari, had been leading prominent party figures in consultations with traditional rulers across the country ahead of January 16, 2027 general election.
Atiku raises constitutional questions
Atiku, however, said the extension of Tinubu’s vacation raised questions beyond the President’s physical absence from Nigeria.
He argued that the Constitution does not recognise a “working vacation” as a substitute for the procedure contained in Section 145.
According to him, whenever the President proceeds on vacation, he is required to transmit a written declaration to the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives, after which the Vice President performs the functions of President as Acting President.
He said that where such a declaration was not transmitted within 21 days, the Constitution provides for the National Assembly, by a simple majority of each chamber, to mandate the Vice President to perform the functions of the President.
“President Tinubu left Nigeria on 30 August. The Presidency publicly announced a three-week vacation. Yet, to date, Nigerians have not been shown any constitutional letter transmitting presidential authority to Vice President Kashim Shettima,” Atiku said.
He called on the Presidency to publish the declaration if it had been transmitted and asked the Senate President and Speaker to state whether they had received it.
Atiku said the matter was particularly important because both Tinubu and Shettima were outside Nigeria, with the Vice President in New York for the UNGA.
“These are not ordinary times. Yet the President is abroad. The Vice President is abroad. The Senate President is abroad. And Nigerians have not been told, in the clear constitutional language required of a serious democracy, who is exercising the powers of the President,” he said.
Atiku also linked his concerns to the deaths of the 37 suspected illegal miners, security challenges and high petrol prices in parts of the country.
He described the issue as one of “constitutional order” rather than political convenience and asked the National Assembly to explain whether it had taken any action under Section 145(2), should no presidential declaration have been transmitted within the stipulated period.
