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With President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima currently out of the country, Nigeria is in a situation many have described as autopilot.
President Tinubu left the country on Tuesday, April 23, for the Netherlands on an official visit.
A statement announcing his trip to the European country stated that after his official engagement in the Netherlands, the president would proceed to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting scheduled for April 28–29.
However, one week after the meeting, the president has yet to return to the country.
Meanwhile, a source in the presidency recently disclosed to Pulse that Tinubu may return to the country on Saturday, May 4, but this did not happen.
The situation is compounded by the silence of the presidency on the president’s whereabouts as there has been no official statement on where he is and when he would return to the country.
This development has sparked speculations in some quarters that the president may have proceeded on a medical trip to another country in Europe.
However, according to Daily Trust, sources in the presidency have disclosed that after the summit in Saudi Arabia, Tinubu left the Asian country for London.
Another source from the Presidential Villa told the newspaper there was no cause for alarm about the president’s whereabouts.
While Nigerians look forward to the return of the president, the Vice President too left the country for Dallas in the United States of America
The VP departed Nigeria on Sunday, May 5, to represent President Tinubu at the 2024 US-Africa Business Summit organised by the Corporate Council on Africa.
With the president and his vice currently out of the country, Nigerians have been raising questions about who is in charge of the affairs of the country.
Reacting to this, the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar in a tweet on Monday, May 6, wondered why Tinubu and Shettima were not in the country at the same time.
Atiku said it is unprecedented that two leaders of the country would simultaneously be absent at a time when the country is faced with daunting challenges.
He said, “I have been inundated by reports of the absence of the president and vice president from the country. It is unprecedented that the two leaders will be absent from the country at the same time, especially now that the nation is faced with daunting challenges. The question that readily comes to mind is who is in charge of government at this point, or is it right to assume that we are on autopilot?”
Speaking to Pulse on the absence of Tinubu and Shettima in the country, Dr. Abubakar Sani, a public affairs analyst and Senior Special Assistant to the former Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, affirmed the position of the presidency, saying the president’s whereabouts should not be a cause for alarm.
Corroborating the speculation of his whereabouts, Sani said the president might be in the US or France for medical attention.
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He said, “I believe there is no cause for alarm. The President might be in the US but most likely in the UK or France for medicals. The man doesn’t look healthy, and this is something we all know before he was voted in. There is nowhere in the Constitution of Nigeria where it was said that the president must always be physically present in Nigeria.”
He, however, maintained that the Nigerians should be worried about the goals of the Tinubu-led administration for Nigeria because they are more important than his whereabouts.
“The government is a system, and it’s working but the main issue is what is the Tinubu Administration trying to achieve; where are they taking us to? It’s about public good, energy, security and opportunities for our youths, and cost of living. These are what we need and not the whereabouts of the President,” Sani said.