Reloaded News Desk
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s prolonged stay outside Nigeria has triggered fresh political questions after his expected weekend return failed to materialise, with the African Democratic Congress Presidential Campaign Council demanding clarification from the Presidency.
Tinubu left Nigeria on August 30 for what the Presidency initially described as a three-week working vacation in Europe.
The Presidency announced on September 21 that the President had extended his stay by a few days and would return at the weekend.
But as of Sunday, September 27, the President had not returned, prompting the ADC to demand an explanation of his whereabouts and the arrangements for the exercise of presidential authority.
In a statement signed by its Director of Media and Publicity, Kola Ologbondiyan, the ADC Presidential Campaign Council said Nigerians were entitled to know the status of the President’s absence because the Presidency had previously announced a return date.
The development has also drawn questions from former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the ADC presidential candidate, whose media aide, Paul Ibe, questioned why Tinubu remained abroad beyond the originally announced period and raised the issue of constitutional arrangements during the President’s absence.
The Presidency has maintained that Tinubu remained engaged with affairs of government while abroad and had delegated Vice President Kashim Shettima to represent him at some official engagements.
Shettima, however, has spent the past week in New York representing Tinubu at the 81st United Nations General Assembly and has now departed for Nigeria after completing his engagements.
The latest information on Tinubu’s return has also changed.
While presidential sources had earlier indicated that the President was expected back in Lagos on Sunday, September 27, a later report on Sunday said Tinubu was now expected to return on Tuesday, September 29. The report said he would arrive through Lagos and attend to official duties there before subsequently returning to Abuja.
The uncertainty over the return date has given the issue a political dimension, coming as Nigeria moves deeper into preparations for the 2027 general elections.
The ADC has gone beyond questioning the duration of the vacation to ask the Presidency to clarify the constitutional basis for the present arrangement, particularly where both the President and Vice President have been outside the country at different points during the period.
The Presidency has not, in the material reviewed by Reloaded News, issued a new public statement explaining the latest change in the reported return schedule.
For now, the established position is that Tinubu remains abroad, while reports from presidential sources indicate that he is expected back in Lagos on September 29.
The political dispute surrounding his absence, however, is likely to continue until the President returns and the Presidency provides further clarification on the circumstances surrounding the extended stay.
