Extended Vacation: TINUBU Returns as AAC Heads to Court

The Presidency says President BOLA AHMED TINUBU has ended his working vacation and departed Paris, France, for the homeward journey to Nigeria.

Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, BAYO ONANUGA, made this known in a statement, saying President TINUBU’s aircraft is expected to touch down at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos later this evening.

ONANUGA said President TINUBU decided to fly to Lagos first to honour the memory of Chief MKO ABIOLA, who lost his life in the struggle for Nigeria’s democratic.

He said on Independence Day this Thursday, the President will attend the premiere of a movie honouring ABIOLA, the winner of the June 1993 election, which would be held at the Wole Soyinka National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos.

The presidential spokesman said President TINUBU will also hold strategic meetings with political leaders and associates over several days in preparation for the 2027 elections, while he is in Lagos.

Recall that President TINUBU departed Abuja on August 30 for a twenty-one-day working vacation in London and Paris, but his return was postponed twice without any clear reason.

Meanwhile, the Atiku Abubakar Media Team has said that President BOLA TINUBU’s return to the country after approximately one month of overseas vacation does not answer the questions of his prolonged absence.

A statement issued by PAUL IBE, who is one of ATIKU ABUBAKAR’s media aides, noted that Section 145 of the Nigerian Constitution clearly states that when the President is proceeding on vacation, there should be a written declaration for the transmission of power to the Vice-President.

PAUL IBE further noted that if such declaration is not transmitted within twenty-one days, the Constitution provides a role for the National Assembly.

IBE maintained that calling the President’s trip a “working vacation” does not change the wording of the Constitution, as it amounts to a deliberate attempt to distract from TINUBU’s breach of the Constitution.

In the meantime, the African Action Congress, AAC, has dragged President BOLA AHMED TINUBU to court for refusing to transmit power to Vice President KASHIM SHETTIMA during his vacation in Europe.

In the lawsuit at the Federal High Court in Abuja, the AAC, through its National Legal Adviser, INIBEHE EFFIONG, is seeking a declaration that President TINUBU’s failure or refusal to transmit power while on vacation is a violation of Section 145(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

The AAC also wants the court to decide whether the National Assembly did not violate the same section of the Constitution by failing to pass a resolution authorising the Vice-President to perform the functions of the office of President as Acting President after President TINUBU spent more than twenty-one days on vacation.

The AAC equally wants the Court to issue an order of perpetual injunction restraining President TINUBU and future Presidents of Nigeria from proceeding on vacation without complying with the provisions of Section 145(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

Joined in the suit as Defendants alongside President TINUBU are the Attorney General of the Federation, LATEEF FAGBEMI, the Senate President, Senator GODSWILL AKPABIO, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, TAJUDEEN ABASS, and the National Assembly.

OMOYELE SOWORE who is the presidential candidate of the AAC for the 2027 elections, was in court to witness the filing of the suit.