The Executive Director of the Centre for Responsive Governance, Ayodeji Ologun, has described President Bola Tinubu’s decision to travel on a three-week vacation without transmitting executive power to Vice President Kashim Shettima as suspicious.
Ologun spoke on Monday, on Frontline, a current affairs programme on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu, Ogun State, following the presidency’s announcement that Tinubu had departed Nigeria for a three-week vacation in Europe as part of his 2026 annual leave.
The analyst said although the President had a constitutional right to proceed on leave, he should transmit power to the Vice President while away, particularly given the length of his absence.
Ologun said, “It is wrong that at a time like this, Mr. President should travel without transmitting power to the Vice President. It is a joint ticket.”
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He argued that the failure to transmit power could create an unnecessary vacuum in governance, insisting that the Vice President should be empowered to act in the President’s absence.
He added, “Mr President has a constitutional right to have power transmitted to the Vice President now that he’s going on leave and failure to do that is suspicious. We cannot have a vacuum in power. If the president is not available, Mr. Vice President should be advanced to resume office as the acting president pending the time that the president will be away.”
According to Ologun, the President’s ability to return before the expiration of 21 days should not be used as a reason to avoid formally transmitting power to the Vice President.
“That is the game the presidency is playing,” he said, arguing that the practice was “unconstitutional” even if it did not amount to a criminal offence under the existing legal framework.
“It’s unconstitutional but it’s not illegal. Of course, they have not broken any law. They will tell you that Mr. President can give orders from anywhere outside of the country, except if he goes beyond the 21 days, which is the three weeks he has applied for. Then a few hours before the duration of the 21 days, Mr. President either will either sneak into the country or will one way or the other return just to make sure that that law is not broken.” he explained.
Ologun said the National Assembly should amend the law to compel a president to transmit power whenever he is going to be away from the country for a specified period.
“I think the National Assembly needs to look into it and make it criminal. Criminalise the failure to transmit power to the vice president when the president is not out of the country for a period of time. I think it has to be put into a law to make sure it is now a criminal offence for the president to have to do the needful.”
He also called for a system in which presidential leave would not be approved until power had been formally transmitted to the Vice President.
“The National Assembly needs to do better by criminalising it by ensuring that the leave will not be granted until power is transmitted.”
Ologun said transmitting power would not diminish the President’s authority, noting that the President should have confidence in his Vice President to oversee the affairs of government during his absence.
