…Why Akpabio cannot take over

‘It is only where the offices of both President and Vice President are vacant that the President of the Senate enters the succession framework’.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is on a three-week vacation abroad, while Vice President Kashim Shettima is in India representing him at the 18th BRICS Leaders’ Summit, raising questions about who exercises presidential authority in Nigeria while both leaders are outside the country.

President Tinubu commenced his three-week annual leave on August 30, with London, United Kingdom, as his first destination, before proceeding to France, where he is continuing his vacation.
Shettima, meanwhile, is in New Delhi representing the President at the 18th BRICS Summit, where Nigeria is participating as a partner country.

The unusual coincidence of the President and Vice President being abroad at the same time has triggered renewed public interest in Nigeria’s constitutional arrangements for the exercise of presidential powers in the absence of the two principal occupants of the executive branch located in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
In particular, questions have been raised over whether Senate President Godswill Akpabio could assume presidential powers while both President Tinubu and Vice President Shettima are outside Nigeria.

The answer under the 1999 Constitution, as amended, is that their physical absence from the country does not, by itself, create a leadership vacuum or automatically transfer presidential powers to the President of the Senate.
The Guardian search revealed that the Constitution does not make physical presence in Nigeria a condition for the President to exercise the powers of his office.

Rather, Section 145 provides the constitutional framework for the temporary transfer of presidential functions when the President is on vacation or is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office.
Under Section 145(1), whenever the President is proceeding on vacation or is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office, he is to transmit a written declaration to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Upon such a declaration, the Vice President is to perform the functions of the President as Acting President until the President transmits a written declaration that he is ready to resume his duties.
The provision further states that where the President fails to transmit such a declaration within 21 days, the National Assembly may, by a simple majority in each chamber, resolve that the Vice President should perform the functions of the President as Acting President until the President notifies them of his readiness to resume.
The implication is that the constitutional trigger is not simply the President’s physical absence from Nigeria, but his inability to discharge the functions of his office and the activation of the procedure prescribed by Section 145.

This distinction is important in the present circumstance.
Tinubu’s trip has officially been described by the Presidency as a three-week annual leave.
His physical presence outside Nigeria does not, in itself, amount to a vacancy in the office of President.
Similarly, Shettima’s presence in India is in an official capacity, representing the President at an international summit. His absence from Nigeria does not automatically transfer presidential authority to the President of the Senate.

The argument that the Senate President should assume presidential powers because both Tinubu and Shettima are abroad conflates temporary absence with constitutional succession.
Section 146 of the Constitution deals with vacancy in the offices of President and Vice President, rather than temporary foreign travel.

The provision applies in circumstances such as death, resignation, removal from office or permanent incapacity, situations in which the relevant office has actually become vacant.
Where the office of President becomes vacant, the Vice President is constitutionally positioned to assume the presidency.

It is only where the offices of both President and Vice President are vacant that the President of the Senate enters the succession framework.

Thus, Section 146 does not provide for the Senate President to become Acting President simply because the President and Vice President are simultaneously outside the country.
The more pertinent question, therefore, is whether President Tinubu has transmitted a declaration under Section 145 stating that he is unable to discharge the functions of his office.
If such a declaration has been transmitted, the Constitution provides for the Vice President to perform the President’s functions as Acting President.

But if no such declaration has been made and the President remains capable of discharging his constitutional responsibilities remotely, his physical absence from Nigeria does not automatically divest him of presidential authority.

The Presidency has maintained that neither the President nor Vice President is required to be physically present in Nigeria at all times to discharge their constitutional responsibilities and that their simultaneous absence does not create a leadership vacuum.

That position also underscores the distinction between being abroad and being constitutionally unable to perform presidential functions.
The present circumstances are therefore better understood as an unusual coincidence of official travel rather than a constitutional succession crisis.
Tinubu remains President while on his scheduled vacation, currently in France after his initial stay in London, while Shettima is performing an official international assignment in India.
Neither development, on its own or in combination, places the Senate President in the position of Acting President.

The Constitution establishes a specific chain for the temporary transfer of presidential functions and a separate framework for succession in the event of a vacancy.
Neither framework makes the Senate President an automatic stand-in whenever the President and Vice President are outside Nigeria.
The broader political significance of the situation, however, cannot be ignored.
With political activities already intensifying ahead of the 2027 general elections, any circumstance involving the physical absence of the President and Vice President is likely to attract heightened public and political scrutiny.
It is against this background that questions on the whereabouts of both occupants of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, is understood.

But from a constitutional standpoint, the decisive issue remains whether the President has relinquished or become unable to exercise his functions in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Constitution, not whether he is physically within Nigeria.
In short, Tinubu’s vacation and Shettima’s official engagement in India do not, by themselves, create a leadership vacuum.

The President remains the substantive head of state and government, while any temporary transfer of presidential functions must be governed by the constitutional provisions of Section 145.

The President of the Senate only enters the line of succession in the circumstances expressly contemplated by Section 146.