Akpabio Speaks On Who Is Running Nigeria As Tinubu, Shettima Leave Aso Rock

Senate President Godswill Akpabio has addressed the controversy over who is in charge of Nigeria while President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima are both out of the country. Tinubu is on a three-week working vacation in France, while Shettima is in New York for the 81st United Nations General Assembly.

Speaking in Akwa Ibom on Tuesday, Akpabio insisted he is not acting president. "I am the Senate President and not the acting President of Nigeria because President Tinubu is still in power. He's on a working leave, and there's no absence in Aso Rock," he said. He added that he is the only person who can declare a vacancy, and right now there is none.

But this is where many Nigerians are shaking their heads. Akpabio also said, "The world is a global village, you can give instructions from the internet. So why are people complaining?" That one line is what people are dragging him for. Instructions from the internet? For a country of over 200 million people?

Let us be honest, if this was the previous government, the same people defending this arrangement would have called for protests. Is it not curious that both the president and vice president are out of the country at the same time? Let us argue this, is it really acceptable for the two top leaders to be abroad simultaneously with no clear constitutional handover?