Tinubu Has Been Away For 21 Days And Atiku Wants Answers

Atiku Abubakar has come out swinging at President Bola Tinubu over the 21 days he has spent outside Nigeria, and the question he is asking is the one nobody in Aso Rock wants to answer. In a statement he titled 'Who is in charge of Nigeria?', the former vice president pointed straight at Section 145 of the Constitution, which says that when a president travels, he must write to the Senate President and the Speaker of the House, and the Vice President takes over as Acting President.

Tinubu left on August 30 for a three-week vacation in Europe, and the Presidency announced on September 21 that the trip had been extended by a few days, with return expected at the weekend. Atiku's point is simple and legal: more than 21 days later, no letter has been shown to Nigerians. His exact words were, 'Section 145 of the Constitution is not ambiguous about presidential vacations,' and he added that where the President fails to transmit the declaration within 21 days, the National Assembly shall, by a simple majority of each House, mandate the Vice President to perform the functions of President as Acting President.

I am a retired civil servant from Ibadan, and in our days, a file that left the desk for three weeks without a signature was a scandal. This is not about whether a man deserves rest. It is about whether the Constitution is a suggestion or a law. If Section 145 can be ignored quietly, then what else in that document is merely decorative?

Be honest with me. If a permanent secretary travelled for 21 days without handing over, would we not have summoned him before the board? So why is the highest office in the land treated with more leniency than a ministry?