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No vacancy in Aso Rock, Tinubu still in power – Akpabio
Senate President Godswill Akpabio says there is no vacancy in Aso Rock, insisting that President Bola Tinubu remains in charge of the country’s affairs despite being on vacation abroad.
Akpabio spoke in Akwa Ibom while inaugurating road projects executed by Governor Umo Eno.
The Senate President said Tinubu’s absence from the country should not be interpreted as a transfer of power or presidential vacancy.
“I am not the acting president, because the president is still in power. The president is on a working leave. So, there’s no absence in Aso Rock,” he said.
Akpabio said Tinubu continued to perform his responsibilities even while outside the country, arguing that the president could issue directives and conduct government business remotely.
“What he cannot do here, he is doing abroad. The world has become a global village; you can give instructions from the internet about anything, so why are people complaining?” he stated.
The Senate President also referenced Tinubu’s recent engagements abroad, including his meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.
“The other day, he was with President Macron on a state visit, discussing bilateral to bring things back to Nigeria,” Akpabio said.
Akpabio’s comments come amid reactions on social media to the simultaneous absence of Tinubu and Shettima from Nigeria, with some citizens questioning who is physically in charge of the country while the president was in France and the vice-president attended the UNGA in New York.
“And then, because he could not make it to UNGA, the United Nations General Assembly, his vice-president went,” he said.
The Senate President noted that, as chairman of the National Assembly, he was the appropriate authority to comment on whether there was a vacancy in the presidency.
“There’s no vacancy; people who are talking are just talking. I’m the only person as chairman of national assembly that can speak the voice of national assembly and say there is vacancy and there will be vacancy,” he said.
“Right now, there is no vacancy. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is still in power and is still running the affairs of Nigeria.”
Akpabio also mocked those questioning Tinubu’s absence from the country, comparing them with people who complain unnecessarily.
“The people who are complaining are like people who are drinking water and say give me toothpick, the water is all for my teeth. They don’t know what to say,” he added.
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