Tinubu Has Been Away 25 Days, And Nobody Has Told Us Who Is In Charge

President Bola Tinubu left Abuja on 30 August for what the Presidency called a three-week working vacation, and as of today, 24 September, he is still in Europe. The 21 days allowed under Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution have expired. The Save Democracy Group in the House of Representatives, led by Awaji-Inombek Abiante and Abubakar Kusada, wrote a statement yesterday asking the National Assembly to reconvene and decide whether Vice President Kashim Shettima should formally assume the functions of president.

The question they raised is not about whether Tinubu can make phone calls from Paris. It is whether the written declaration required by the Constitution was transmitted to Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Speaker Abbas Tajudeen. The SDG put it plainly: "The Constitution cannot be replaced by assurances that the president remains in communication with officials or continues to issue directives from abroad." That is the whole matter. Bayo Onanuga announced on 21 September that the vacation was extended by a few days, but no one has told Nigerians whether a letter exists.

I have spent twenty years in this country watching us treat constitutional provisions like suggestions. If a civil servant in Ibadan leaves his desk for three weeks without formal handover, he is queried. The President is not above the document he swore to protect. Shettima is in New York for the UN General Assembly and delivers Nigeria's statement today, so who is actually in charge in Abuja? Be honest with me, is this how a serious country is run, or have we simply agreed to look away?