Some members of the house of representatives under the platform of the Save Democracy Group have asked the national assembly to reconvene to determine whether President Bola Tinubu complied with the constitutional requirement to notify the legislature of his absence from Nigeria.
The group made the demand in a statement issued on Wednesday amid concerns over the president’s continued stay outside the country after the 21-day period stipulated in section 145 of the 1999 constitution expired.
Tinubu left Nigeria on August 30 for London, where he began what the presidency described as a working vacation. After spending a week in the UK, he travelled to Paris, France.
On Monday, Tinubu extended his overseas vacation by a few days and is expected to return to Nigeria by the weekend.
The group said section 145(1) requires the president, whenever he proceeds on vacation, to transmit a written declaration to the senate president and speaker of the house of representatives, after which the vice-president performs the functions of president in an acting capacity.
The group of lawmakers said section 145(2) further provides that where the president is unable or fails to transmit the declaration within 21 days, the national assembly may, through a simple-majority resolution of each chamber, mandate the vice-president to perform the duties of president as acting president until the president communicates his availability to resume his functions.
The lawmakers demanded that the senate president and the speaker of the house of representatives house should publicly disclose whether Tinubu transmitted the required declaration to the parliament.
“If it was transmitted, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives should immediately make that fact clear to Nigerians,” the lawmakers said.
The lawmakers said if no declaration was transmitted within the stipulated period, the national assembly should reconvene and immediately comply with section 145(2) of the constitution.
The lawmakers said the president’s ability to communicate with officials or issue directives remotely does not resolve the constitutional question.
“The question is not whether modern technology allows the President to work from another country. The question is whether the Constitution has been obeyed. No individual is greater than the Constitution,” the group said.
The statement was signed on behalf of the group by Awaji-Inombek Abiante, member representing Andoni/Opobo-Nkoro federal constituency in Rivers state, and Abubakar Yahaya, lawmaker representing Kankia/Ingawa/Kusada federal constituency in Katsina state.
