A former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Chidi Odinkalu, has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s prolonged stay outside Nigeria, saying the country cannot be run indefinitely from abroad.
Mr Odinkalu, a lawyer, said the simultaneous absence of Mr Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima had created a leadership problem that previous administrations had avoided.
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He spoke on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday, amid growing criticism of Mr Tinubu’s extended stay in Europe and Mr Shettima’s presence in New York for the 81st United Nations General Assembly.
“Running a country requires common sense,” Mr Odinkalu said.
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He said it had been an established practice under previous administrations for either the president or vice president to remain in Nigeria when the other was out of the country.
“It never happened before. As a rule, as a convention, pretty much a binding convention of government, no president allowed himself to be out of the country with the vice president at the same time. It never happened. It was not permitted,” he said.
Mr Odinkalu cited the administrations of Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Yar’Adua, Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari as examples.
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“Under Buhari, whenever Buhari was going out of the country, Osinbajo was required to be back in the country. Under Obasanjo, Obasanjo would never contemplate it. Yar’Adua did not contemplate it. Jonathan did not allow it,” he said.
The former NHRC chairman questioned whether those currently running the country fully understood the responsibilities attached to their offices.
“The question, therefore, you’ve got to pose is do the current people running the country even think or understand what the obligations of running the country are before we get into the constitutional text,” he said.
Mr Odinkalu described Mr Tinubu’s prolonged absence as “japa”, a Nigerian slang commonly used to describe leaving the country in search of better opportunities.
He also likened the situation to the long periods President Paul Biya spends away from Cameroon.
“Tinubu cannot interminably run Nigeria like Paul Biya runs Cameroon,” he said.
He further described Nigeria as an “ungoverned territory” during the simultaneous absence of the president and vice president, arguing that the country’s leaders had abdicated their responsibilities.
Section 145
Mr Odinkalu also challenged the suggestion that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, could assume presidential functions while both Messrs Tinubu and Shettima are outside the country.
He referred to Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution, which provides for the transfer of presidential functions when the president proceeds on vacation or is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office.
The provision states that the president is to transmit a written declaration to the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives. Until a contrary declaration is transmitted, the vice president performs the functions of the president as acting president.
It further provides that if the president fails to transmit the declaration within 21 days, the National Assembly may, by resolution, mandate the vice president to perform the functions of the president as acting president.
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Mr Odinkalu said the constitutional provision should be understood alongside the basic responsibility to ensure the country has effective leadership.
He argued that focusing solely on a technical reading of the Constitution could obscure the broader obligation of those holding public office.
Tinubu’s extended stay
Mr Tinubu left Abuja on 30 August for a three-week working vacation in Europe, beginning in London before travelling to Paris, where he met French President Emmanuel Macron and businessman Vincent Bollore.
The Presidency later announced that the president had extended his stay by a few days and would return to Nigeria at the weekend. It said Mr Tinubu had remained in contact with officials at home and continued to direct government affairs while abroad.
Mr Shettima left Abuja on 20 September for New York to represent Mr Tinubu at the 81st UN General Assembly and deliver Nigeria’s national statement.
The Presidency said that while Mr Shettima was away, Mr Akume would continue representing the president at official events. It also said the president had delegated the vice president to represent him at some official functions.
The federal government has defended Mr Tinubu’s absence from the UN General Assembly, saying Mr Shettima has the president’s full mandate to represent Nigeria and that the country would be fully represented at the gathering. It is the third consecutive time Mr Tinubu has delegated Mr Shettima to represent him at the UN General Assembly.
The issue has also drawn criticism from former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who questioned Mr Tinubu’s absence from the UN meeting and asked who was in charge of the country.
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