Tinubu, Shettima being abroad same time not ideal for governance – Akande
Laolu Akande, a former spokesman in the presidency for the office of the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, has described as unideal the absence of President Bola Tinubu and his vice, Kashim Shettima, in the country at the same time.
Tinubu has been out of town since October 2, when he travelled to the United Kingdom for a two-week work leave.
The President has since left UK for France, where he’s expected to complete his leave before returning to Nigeria.
However, Shettima, who had been deputising for his principal, also jetted out of the country for Sweden on Wednesday, October 16, 2024, for a two-day visit to represent Nigeria in bilateral engagements with the Scandinavian nation.
This has left the most populous black nation without its president and vice in the country at the same, a situation which has attracted criticisms from various quarters.
Akande says it’s unideal for Tinubu, Shettima to travel at the same time
Commenting on the development on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Thursday, Akande highlighted the importance of having one of the president or his vice on the ground.
“It is important for one of them to be on the ground because the work of governance requires a lot of hand-holding.
“In my view, we still have a very serious problem of sustained trust in the relationship between the President and the Vice President over time,” he said.
Recall that in a statement on Wednesday, presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, argued that there’s no vacuum in governance as the two leaders are fully engaged with the nation’s affairs even while they are away.
But Akande argued that “The ideal thing is for us not to have a situation where both the president and the vice president are not in town, that’s the ideal situation.
I remember that during the eight years I served, that happened only once during the burial of the Queen (of England) which also fell at the same time as the UNGA and I knew how the president and the vice president were checking on each other to ensure that somebody gets back.
“So, in eight years, they managed to ensure that for the most part, one person is always on the ground. I know quite a few times when the vice president had to just wrap up foreign trips because something happened and the president will have to travel.”
