Some members of the House of Representatives, under the Save Democracy Group (SDG), have called on the National Assembly to reconvene and clarify the constitutional status of President Bola Tinubu’s prolonged absence from Nigeria.
The group, comprising lawmakers from the ruling APC and the opposition, said the leadership of the Senate and House should disclose whether Tinubu transmitted a written declaration notifying them of his vacation, as required by Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution.
Tinubu left Nigeria on August 30 for what the presidency described as a three-week working vacation in Europe.
He later extended his stay by a few days and is expected to return this weekend.
The lawmakers said Section 145 requires a president going on vacation to transmit a written declaration to the President of the Senate and House Speaker, allowing the vice president to perform presidential functions in an acting capacity.
They said if Tinubu did not transmit the declaration within 21 days, the National Assembly should act under Section 145(2), which provides for a resolution by each chamber mandating Vice President Kashim Shettima to serve as acting president.
“If it was transmitted, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives should immediately make that fact clear to Nigerians,” the group said in a statement signed by Awaji-Inombek Abiante of PDP (Rivers State) and Abubakar Yahaya Kusada of APC (Katsina State).
The lawmakers also rejected arguments that President Tinubu’s ability to communicate with officials from abroad settles the matter.
“The question is not whether modern technology allows the President to work from another country.
"The question is whether the Constitution has been obeyed,” they said.
The call comes as Vice President Kashim Shettima is also outside Nigeria, representing Tinubu at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The SDG describes itself as a bipartisan platform of lawmakers concerned with constitutional governance, legislative independence and accountability.
Publicly identified members of Save Democracy Group include its leader, Awaji-Inombek Abiante of the NDC, Rivers; Abubakar Yahaya Kusada of the APC, Katsina; and Mansur Musa Jega of the ADC, Kebbi.
The group has not publicly disclosed its full membership, and available reports do not show that it constitutes a majority or a formal caucus in either chamber of the National Assembly.
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