Former Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, has shifted the focus of the controversy over President Bola Tinubu’s prolonged stay abroad to the National Assembly, questioning why lawmakers have not acted on the constitutional provisions governing presidential absence.
Dalung argued that the central issue is not whether Tinubu has continued to issue directives or conduct government business from abroad, but whether the constitutional procedure for proceeding on vacation was followed.
Speaking on Daily Trust’s News Hour on Monday, the former minister said Section 145 of the Constitution requires a president proceeding on vacation to transmit a written declaration to the leadership of the National Assembly, enabling the Vice President to perform presidential functions in an acting capacity.
He also questioned the response of the National Assembly, pointing to Section 145(2), which provides for legislative action if a president fails to transmit the required declaration within 21 days.
“The conversation should be why has the president failed to comply with Section 145 subsection 1 and why has the National Assembly failed to comply with Section 145 subsection 2,” Dalung said.
Tinubu left Nigeria on August 30 for what the Presidency initially described as a three-week working vacation in Europe. The State House subsequently announced an extension of the trip, saying the President had continued directing government affairs while abroad.
The Presidency has maintained that Tinubu does not need to be physically present in Abuja to perform his duties and said he remained engaged with government business during his stay abroad.
But Dalung rejected the distinction between a conventional vacation and what the Presidency calls a “working vacation”, arguing that the Constitution does not create such a category.
He said the constitutional question was triggered by the President proceeding on leave, rather than by his physical location or ability to communicate with officials.
The controversy has also attracted calls from opposition figures for clarification over whether Tinubu transmitted the declaration contemplated by Section 145. TheCable reported that some members of the House of Representatives had urged the National Assembly to reconvene over the issue.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio, however, has maintained that there is no leadership vacuum, while the Presidency has continued to defend Tinubu’s ability to govern from abroad.
For Dalung, the dispute therefore goes beyond the President’s extended foreign stay to a constitutional question of how presidential authority is formally managed when the holder of the office proceeds on leave.
