Odinkalu: Tinubu’s Absence Has Created A Constitutional Crisis

A former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, Professor Chidi Odinkalu, has condemned President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for staying out of the country for a long time, saying his action has created constitutional and political problems for the country.
Prof. Odinkalu, a constitutional lawyer and rights activist made the assertion on Wednesday while speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today, amid worries over the President’s continued absence from the country.
President Tinubu has been away from the country for more than 25 days, a situation not a few Nigerians say has left a vacuum in government.
The situation, some even say, is worrisome, considering that Vice President Kashim Shettima is also currently out of the country to represent the President at the ongoing United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in the United States (US).
President Tinubu left the country on August 30 on a “working vacation,” according to a statement issued by Presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, and has not returned, a situation that has sparked a constitutional crisis over whether the President is permitted to stay away from the country for that long, particularly when he did not properly hand over power to his Vice.
Speaking yesterday, Odinkalu contended that Tinubu should have transferred power to Shettima in line with Section 145 of the Constitution, saying the law does not recognise anything like “working vacation,” adding that the President has left a power vacuum with his prolonged absence from the country and his refusal to transmit power to Shettima.
According to him, the idea of a working vacation does not exist in Section 145, which deals with presidential absence from the country and provides a mechanism for the Vice President to act where the President is unable to discharge his functions.
He also rejected the argument that the President can run the country from anywhere, saying this is not sufficient to address the constitutional and governance issues arising from Tinubu’s prolonged absence, noting that the Constitution has provided for a situation where the President will be outside the country.
He noted that the argument that the President has stayed away from the country for 21 days based on Section 145 of the Constitution can still be subjected to legal interpretation, noting that the 21 days should ordinarily exclude public holidays and weekends.
“When you look at the Interpretation Act, the 21 days would mean 21 working days,” he said, adding that such an interpretation would exclude weekends and public holidays.
Odinkalu, however, stated that what is paramount is not how many days the President has stayed away from the country but, rather, whether Nigerian leaders are running the affairs of government with “common sense,” citing, for instance, why the President and his Vice chose to be outside the country at the same time.
He explained that constitutional conventions had historically discouraged the President and Vice President from being outside the country simultaneously, saying past Nigerian leaders such as Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Yar’Adua, Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari followed the convention strictly.
He called on the National Assembly to immediately invoke Section 145(2), which gives it the power to pass a resolution to empower the Vice President as Acting President since the President failed to transfer power as required of him by the Constitution.
“If the President fails to do that, and you have a clear onset of the 21-day trigger, depending on how 21 days is interpreted, the obligation shifts from the Presidency, the Executive, to the Legislature, who, by joint resolution adopted by a simple majority, should take responsibility to confer that authority to act on the Vice President,” Odinkalu stated.