President Bola Tinubu has commenced a three-week annual leave in Europe without formally transferring presidential authority to Vice President Kashim Shettima.
According to the Presidency, he will remain actively involved in the running of the country while away.
Tinubu departed Abuja on Sunday for the United Kingdom, which is his first destination during the vacation.
The Presidency described the trip as a “working vacation,” stressing that the President would continue to monitor important developments and receive regular updates from senior government officials.
Speaking with journalists at the Presidential Wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport shortly before Tinubu’s departure, his Special Adviser on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, said the President would continue to receive briefings on key national issues despite being on leave.
“Even though he’s going on leave, we know that he will be engaged with state matters on a daily basis. He will receive briefings from his Ministers, from the Service Chiefs, as the case may be, and from every other person who is handling key decisions in our country,” Dare said.
The presidential aide explained that Tinubu’s leave should not be interpreted as a withdrawal from governance, noting that the President had remained heavily involved in state affairs over the preceding months.
Dare described the vacation as deserved, pointing to what he called the significant decisions taken by the administration on the economy, security and other areas of national development.
“So the President is proceeding on a well deserved leave and I think that leave is well deserved. The President has had several months, six, seven months of being engaged with State matters.
“We have seen monumental changes, monumental decisions taken with our security, with our economy and so many other things, as pertained the running of the affairs of this Country,” he said.
The timing of the vacation has also attracted political attention because it comes as political activities intensify ahead of the 2027 general election. Dare said the administration needed the break before what he described as a demanding campaign period.
“At this point the campaign season has just started, we have just four to five months of serious campaigning.
“Of course, governors will still continue and at this point it is important that the government also refuels,” Dare said.
Earlier, the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, announced Tinubu’s departure and said the three-week vacation was part of his annual leave.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will depart Abuja today for Europe to begin a three-week vacation as part of his annual leave.
“His first stop will be London, United Kingdom,” Onanuga said.
The Presidency did not provide details of Tinubu’s full itinerary or disclose the other European destinations he may visit during the three-week period.
It, however, said the President would return to Nigeria after the working vacation and resume his political activities ahead of the 2027 election.
“President Tinubu is expected to return home after the working vacation to join the hectic campaign for the January 2027 election,” Onanuga said.
The decision not to formally hand over to Shettima has also drawn criticism from former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who described Tinubu’s departure as inappropriate given the challenges facing the country.
Atiku, who is the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, argued that the President’s absence, coupled with Shettima’s own absence from the country on official duties, had created what he called a “disturbing vacuum of political leadership.”
“Nigeria may not be facing a constitutional vacuum today, but there is a disturbing vacuum of political leadership,” Atiku said in a post on his X handle.
He argued that the President’s decision to spend three weeks abroad came at a time when Nigerians were facing economic difficulties, including high petrol prices, food insecurity, rising transport costs and insecurity.
Atiku said the issue was not whether a President should be allowed to rest or travel but whether the timing of the trip was appropriate.
“A father may travel when all is well. But when his roof is burning and his family is trapped inside, he does not pick up his suitcase and head for the airport,” he said.
“That is the issue here. It is not that a President must never rest or travel. It is that Nigeria is burning, and the President has chosen a boarding pass over the fire extinguisher.”
The former Vice President also criticised the President over his frequent travels, saying millions of Nigerians were struggling with the cost of living.
“Millions of Nigerians are being grounded by hardship while their President is airborne. The people can barely afford to move, but the President keeps moving,” Atiku said.
He further accused the Tinubu administration of making the country increasingly expensive for ordinary citizens and promised that he would make Nigeria affordable if elected president.
