Former Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, has accused President Bola Tinubu of breaching the Constitution by going on a “working vacation” without transmitting power to Vice President Kashim Shettima.
Speaking on Daily Trust’s News Hour on Monday, Dalung said the Constitution does not recognise the term “working vacation” and that the President’s prolonged stay abroad raises a clear legal question.
“There is nothing called working vacation or working leave. The Constitution does not recognise that. The media or the press cannot amend the Constitution of Nigeria with a press statement,” he said.
“Where we are is whether the president has complied or has violated the Constitution and in my opinion, he has done that.”
Dalung stressed that the issue was not whether Tinubu had kept performing official duties from abroad, but whether the procedure for presidential absence had been followed. He cited Section 145(1) of the Constitution.
“It is not about performance of a government function. He will have to transmit that of acting president to his vice, and the requirement and expression here is ‘shall’,” he said.
He added that the Constitution does not allow a vacuum in office, whether the vacation lasts a day or a few minutes.
The former minister also questioned why the National Assembly had not acted under Section 145(2). That provision says that if the President fails to transmit the required declaration within 21 days of proceeding on leave, the National Assembly shall, by simple majority, mandate the Vice President to act.
“If the president is not proceeding on vacation, he can work anywhere in the world, but the moment the president announces that he is proceeding on a leave, the Constitution requires him to transmit power,” he said.
Tinubu left Nigeria on August 30 for a three-week vacation in Europe, according to the Presidency. The State House later announced that he had extended the trip by a few days and would return at the weekend.
The absence has sparked debate over its constitutional implications. Senate President Godswill Akpabio has maintained that there is no leadership vacuum, arguing that Tinubu remains in charge and continues to run the country from abroad.
Dalung also said Nigerians deserve clearer information on the President’s whereabouts and activities, accusing the state media of being “economical with the truth.”
“Nigerians need to know where their president is and what he is doing,” he said.
He again faulted the National Assembly for failing to invoke the constitutional provision, concluding: “So, we are living in what we call democratic anarchy with impunity as the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
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