Reps Under ‘Save Democracy Group’ Demand NASS Reconvene Over Tinubu’s Extended Absence

By: Tunji Okunlola

Some members of the House of Representatives, operating under the platform of the Save Democracy Group, have called on 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 growing concern over the president’s continued stay abroad 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 a week in the UK, he travelled to Paris. On Monday, he extended his overseas trip by a few days and is now expected to return to Nigeria by the weekend.

According to the lawmakers, Section 145(1) requires the president, whenever he proceeds on vacation, to transmit a written declaration to the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, after which the vice-president assumes presidential functions in an acting capacity. They further cited Section 145(2), which provides that where the president is unable or fails to transmit such a declaration within 21 days, the National Assembly may, by a simple-majority resolution in each chamber, direct the vice-president to act as president until the substantive president communicates his readiness to resume duties.

The lawmakers demanded that the Senate President and the Speaker publicly disclose whether Tinubu transmitted the required declaration to the National Assembly. “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 group said, adding that if no declaration was sent within the stipulated period, the National Assembly should reconvene and act in compliance with Section 145(2) of the Constitution.

The group also argued that the president’s ability to communicate with officials or issue directives remotely does not settle the constitutional question at hand. “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 statement read.

The statement was signed on behalf of the group by Awaji-Inombek Abiante, representing Andoni/Opobo-Nkoro federal constituency in Rivers State, and Abubakar Yahaya, representing Kankia/Ingawa/Kusada federal constituency in Katsina State.