Akpabio Says No Vacancy in Aso Rock as Tinubu Extends Vacation and Shettima Attends UNGA
President Bola Tinubu left Nigeria on 30 August 2026 for a working vacation. He started in London and then moved to Paris. The first three weeks ended and on 21 September the Presidency announced an extension of a few more days. The statement said he would return at the weekend.
Vice President Kashim Shettima left Abuja on 20 September for New York. He is leading Nigeria’s delegation to the 81st United Nations General Assembly. He will deliver the national statement on behalf of the President. This is the third year in a row Tinubu is not attending UNGA in person.
With Tinubu in Europe and Shettima in New York, both top offices were outside the country at the same time. That gap is what triggered the Aso Rock vacancy debate.
The opposition quickly picked it up. The African Democratic Congress through its spokesperson Bolaji Abdullahi said it was a dangerous disregard for the constitution. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar asked if President Tinubu sent a letter to the National Assembly under Section 145 to transfer functions. Human rights lawyer Inibehe Effiong, speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, called the simultaneous absence a brazen violation of the 1999 Constitution.
Inside the Presidency, the position is different. Officials said Tinubu remains fully in charge. They said the President is working from abroad and that Secretary to the Government of the Federation George Akume is covering official events at home. They also pointed to Shettima carrying the full mandate of the President at UNGA.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio joined the debate while in Akwa Ibom commissioning roads. He shut down talk that he had become acting president because both the President and Vice President were abroad.
His words were:
“I am the Senate President, and I am not the acting president of Nigeria, because President Tinubu is still in power. He is on a working leave, and there is no absence in Aso Rock. The world is a global village, and one can give instructions over the internet. So, why are people complaining?”
He went further to close the vacancy talk, Saying :
“Right now, there is no vacancy. Asiwaju Tinubu is still in power, and he is still running the affairs of Nigeria.”
Akpabio also pointed to Tinubu’s meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron as proof that the trip is a working leave and not a disappearance. For him, the President can govern from anywhere because technology has made the world a global village.
The legal argument around Tinubu vacation Aso Rock vacancy Akpabio is not new in Nigeria. The constitution provides that when the President is unable to discharge functions, he should transmit a letter to the Senate President and the Speaker. The question critics are asking is whether a working vacation that is extended while the Vice President is also at UNGA counts as an inability to discharge functions.
The Presidency has not said any such letter was transmitted. The argument from government supporters is that the President is not sick, he is on leave and still signing off on matters, so no transmission is needed.
Beyond law, the politics is about optics. Nigerians are dealing with high fuel prices, insecurity in many states and early 2027 campaign moves. Pictures of the President in Paris and the Vice President in New York while the Senate President says there is no absence in Aso Rock create a talking point that stays on X all day.
For Akpabio, speaking on this in Akwa Ibom matters. He is from the state. He is also the highest ranking office holder from the South South in this government. When he says there is no vacancy, that statement carries both national and home base weight. It ties national protocol to local politics.
What happens next is simple. If Tinubu returns this weekend as the Presidency said, the vacancy talk will die down. If the return is pushed again, the calls for a Section 145 letter will get louder. Shettima is expected to return after his UNGA engagements.
For now, the facts are clear. Tinubu is in Europe on an extended working vacation. Shettima is in New York for UNGA. Akpabio says he is not acting president and that there is no vacancy in Aso Rock.
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