Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has extended his working vacation in Europe by a few days and will now return to Nigeria at the weekend, the Presidency announced on Monday, bringing to an end weeks of speculation about when the President would cut short his annual leave as the 2027 election campaign season intensifies.
The extension was disclosed in a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, who said the President would return to Nigeria “at the weekend” following the extension of his working vacation by a few days. Tinubu departed Nigeria on August 30 for London to begin what the Presidency described as a three-week working vacation as part of his annual leave. After spending a week in the United Kingdom, he moved to Paris, France, where he has held high-level diplomatic engagements, including a private dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace and a meeting with French business magnate Vincent Bolloré, whose media group includes Canal+, MultiChoice and Universal Music Group.
The Presidency has consistently maintained that the trip is a working vacation rather than a purely recreational one, pointing to the President’s continued engagement with official duties while abroad. Since he began the vacation, Tinubu has directed the affairs of the nation from Europe, including ordering the constitution of an independent ten-member panel to investigate the deaths of thirty-seven suspected illegal miners in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Niger State. He has also delegated Vice President Kashim Shettima to represent him at official functions, including the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York, where Shettima is leading Nigeria’s delegation and is expected to deliver the national statement. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, has also been representing the President at events in Abuja.
The extension has nonetheless drawn sharp constitutional and political scrutiny from the opposition. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, issued a personally signed statement on Monday asking the Presidency and the National Assembly to clarify who is exercising presidential powers following the expiration of the twenty-one-day period announced for the vacation. Atiku cited Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution, which requires the President to transmit a written declaration to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives when proceeding on vacation, formally transferring authority to the Vice President. “President Tinubu left Nigeria on 30 August. The Presidency publicly announced a three-week vacation. Yet, to date, Nigerians have not been shown any constitutional letter transmitting presidential authority to Vice President Kashim Shettima. The 21 days have now elapsed. If such a letter exists, the Presidency should publish it immediately,” Atiku said. He further referenced Section 145(2), which provides that where the President fails to transmit the declaration within twenty-one days, the National Assembly can, by a simple majority in each chamber, mandate the Vice President to perform the functions of President as Acting President. “This is not a matter of political convenience. It is a matter of constitutional order,” Atiku said, adding that with Shettima in New York for the UN General Assembly, the question of who is exercising presidential authority in Nigeria remained unanswered. “Nigeria cannot be governed by assumptions.”
The Presidency has dismissed the criticism as irresponsible and politically motivated. Onanuga described the insinuation by Atiku and a United States-based lobbying firm as baseless, insisting that the President remained fully engaged with the governance of the country. The Presidency has pointed to Tinubu’s directives on the NSCDC investigation and his continued consultations with political stakeholders as evidence that he is exercising the functions of his office despite his physical absence. It has also noted that Shettima, who is representing the President at the UN General Assembly, will present Nigeria’s national statement, and that Akume has been representing the President at other official engagements.
The vacation extension comes at a delicate moment in Nigeria’s political calendar. The 2027 general elections are less than four months away, with the presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for January 16 and the governorship and state assembly elections for February 6. The All Progressives Congress is yet to formally inaugurate its Presidential Campaign Council, with reports linking the delay to the President’s extended absence. The Director-General of the PCC, Senator Abubakar Yari, has been leading party leaders in consultations with prominent traditional rulers across the country. Meanwhile, a political dispute has erupted between the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, and governors elected on the platform of the APC over Wike’s Rainbow Coalition, a cross-party movement he says is designed to mobilise support for Tinubu’s re-election while allowing politicians to contest other elections under different party platforms. The APC Governors’ Forum, led by Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, has rejected any arrangement capable of undermining the party or its candidates. Wike has responded by describing the governors as “politically lazy” and insisting the coalition is not an APC structure. Reports indicate that Tinubu may intervene in the dispute upon his return, with a possible meeting with members of the Progressive Governors’ Forum expected as early as next week.
The President’s extended stay abroad has also coincided with a period of heightened political activity on the opposition side. Atiku has intensified his campaign, holding press conferences in Abuja on the cost of living and petrol prices, while Peter Obi of the Nigeria Democratic Congress has been touring the country and facing reports of thugs disrupting his convoy in Benue and Delta states. The Nigeria Democratic Congress has also secured a legal victory, with the Court of Appeal setting aside the judgment that had deregistered the party, clearing it to participate in the 2027 elections.
For now, the Presidency’s message is that Tinubu will return at the weekend and resume official engagements. Whether the extension will be remembered as a routine adjustment to a working vacation or as a moment that raised legitimate constitutional questions about the exercise of presidential authority in a period of political transition will depend on how the coming days unfold. Atiku has placed the issue on the record and demanded answers. The Presidency has rejected the premise of his questions. The National Assembly has not issued a statement on the matter. As the President prepares to return, the constitutional debate he left behind is unlikely to fade quickly.
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Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has extended his working vacation in Europe by a few days and will now return to Nigeria at the weekend, the Presidency announced on Monday, bringing to an end weeks of speculation about when the President would cut short his annual leave as the 2027 election campaign season intensifies.
The extension was disclosed in a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, who said the President would return to Nigeria “at the weekend” following the extension of his working vacation by a few days. Tinubu departed Nigeria on August 30 for London to begin what the Presidency described as a three-week working vacation as part of his annual leave. After spending a week in the United Kingdom, he moved to Paris, France, where he has held high-level diplomatic engagements, including a private dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace and a meeting with French business magnate Vincent Bolloré, whose media group includes Canal+, MultiChoice and Universal Music Group.
The Presidency has consistently maintained that the trip is a working vacation rather than a purely recreational one, pointing to the President’s continued engagement with official duties while abroad. Since he began the vacation, Tinubu has directed the affairs of the nation from Europe, including ordering the constitution of an independent ten-member panel to investigate the deaths of thirty-seven suspected illegal miners in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Niger State. He has also delegated Vice President Kashim Shettima to represent him at official functions, including the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York, where Shettima is leading Nigeria’s delegation and is expected to deliver the national statement. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, has also been representing the President at events in Abuja.
The extension has nonetheless drawn sharp constitutional and political scrutiny from the opposition. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, issued a personally signed statement on Monday asking the Presidency and the National Assembly to clarify who is exercising presidential powers following the expiration of the twenty-one-day period announced for the vacation. Atiku cited Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution, which requires the President to transmit a written declaration to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives when proceeding on vacation, formally transferring authority to the Vice President. “President Tinubu left Nigeria on 30 August. The Presidency publicly announced a three-week vacation. Yet, to date, Nigerians have not been shown any constitutional letter transmitting presidential authority to Vice President Kashim Shettima. The 21 days have now elapsed. If such a letter exists, the Presidency should publish it immediately,” Atiku said. He further referenced Section 145(2), which provides that where the President fails to transmit the declaration within twenty-one days, the National Assembly can, by a simple majority in each chamber, mandate the Vice President to perform the functions of President as Acting President. “This is not a matter of political convenience. It is a matter of constitutional order,” Atiku said, adding that with Shettima in New York for the UN General Assembly, the question of who is exercising presidential authority in Nigeria remained unanswered. “Nigeria cannot be governed by assumptions.”
The Presidency has dismissed the criticism as irresponsible and politically motivated. Onanuga described the insinuation by Atiku and a United States-based lobbying firm as baseless, insisting that the President remained fully engaged with the governance of the country. The Presidency has pointed to Tinubu’s directives on the NSCDC investigation and his continued consultations with political stakeholders as evidence that he is exercising the functions of his office despite his physical absence. It has also noted that Shettima, who is representing the President at the UN General Assembly, will present Nigeria’s national statement, and that Akume has been representing the President at other official engagements.
The vacation extension comes at a delicate moment in Nigeria’s political calendar. The 2027 general elections are less than four months away, with the presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for January 16 and the governorship and state assembly elections for February 6. The All Progressives Congress is yet to formally inaugurate its Presidential Campaign Council, with reports linking the delay to the President’s extended absence. The Director-General of the PCC, Senator Abubakar Yari, has been leading party leaders in consultations with prominent traditional rulers across the country. Meanwhile, a political dispute has erupted between the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, and governors elected on the platform of the APC over Wike’s Rainbow Coalition, a cross-party movement he says is designed to mobilise support for Tinubu’s re-election while allowing politicians to contest other elections under different party platforms. The APC Governors’ Forum, led by Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, has rejected any arrangement capable of undermining the party or its candidates. Wike has responded by describing the governors as “politically lazy” and insisting the coalition is not an APC structure. Reports indicate that Tinubu may intervene in the dispute upon his return, with a possible meeting with members of the Progressive Governors’ Forum expected as early as next week.
The President’s extended stay abroad has also coincided with a period of heightened political activity on the opposition side. Atiku has intensified his campaign, holding press conferences in Abuja on the cost of living and petrol prices, while Peter Obi of the Nigeria Democratic Congress has been touring the country and facing reports of thugs disrupting his convoy in Benue and Delta states. The Nigeria Democratic Congress has also secured a legal victory, with the Court of Appeal setting aside the judgment that had deregistered the party, clearing it to participate in the 2027 elections.
For now, the Presidency’s message is that Tinubu will return at the weekend and resume official engagements. Whether the extension will be remembered as a routine adjustment to a working vacation or as a moment that raised legitimate constitutional questions about the exercise of presidential authority in a period of political transition will depend on how the coming days unfold. Atiku has placed the issue on the record and demanded answers. The Presidency has rejected the premise of his questions. The National Assembly has not issued a statement on the matter. As the President prepares to return, the constitutional debate he left behind is unlikely to fade quickly.
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✉️ info@stonereportersnews.com | 📘 Facebook: Stone Reporters News | 🐦 X (Twitter): @StoneReportNew | 📸 Instagram: @stonereportersnews
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