Tinubu Departs for Three-Week Leave, Presidency Silent on Who’s in Charge

ABUJA

President Bola Tinubu departed Abuja on Sunday for a three-week vacation in Europe, with his first stop set for London, even as the Presidency stayed conspicuously quiet on whether Vice President Kashim Shettima will formally act in his place while he is away.

Tinubu, who is seeking re-election in January 2027, faces no legal dispute over the trip itself; presidential travel and leave are routine, and the Presidency has described this one simply as annual leave, not a medical or emergency departure.

A statement that answers one question and dodges another

Presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga confirmed the trip in a Sunday statement, saying the president would return “energised” for what he called the “hectic campaign” ahead of the January 2027 election.

Findings by ValidViewNetwork show the statement was notably silent on the one procedural question many Nigerians immediately asked: whether Tinubu had written to the Senate President to formally hand over power to Shettima, as Section 145 of the Constitution allows for when a president travels or falls ill.

ADVERTISEMENT

Why the silence matters

Checks by ValidViewNetwork show this is not a small technicality. Tinubu has not handed over power to his deputy on any occasion since taking office in May 2023, breaking with the practice of his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, who routinely transferred authority to his vice president during foreign trips.

That practice itself ended abruptly in 2022, after then-Acting President Yemi Osinbajo sacked the controversial director-general of the State Security Service, Lawal Daura, while standing in for Buhari, a move that reportedly left lingering unease in Aso Rock about how much authority an “acting president” should really wield.

Where the deputy stands right now

Adding a layer of complexity, Shettima himself is currently out of the country, representing Tinubu at the African Union’s extraordinary leaders’ summit in Angola, and is not expected back in Nigeria until later this week, meaning that even if a handover were formalised, the vice president would not be immediately on ground to assume it.

What to watch next

With Tinubu’s re-election bid gathering pace and questions about succession planning already a live issue in Nigerian political commentary, the Presidency’s silence on the handover question is likely to keep drawing scrutiny through the three weeks of the president’s absence.

Whether Onanuga’s office clarifies the matter in the coming days, or simply lets the trip conclude without comment as has become customary, remains, for now, an open question.