Akwa Ibom Facebook Page Calls Akpabio Nigeria’s ‘Acting President’

A Facebook post by Nigeria’s Akwa Ibom State Government briefly described Senate President Godswill Akpabio as the country’s “Acting President” during a ceremony welcoming a new Ibom Air aircraft.

The description appeared on the state government’s official livestream of Tuesday’s event at Victor Attah International Airport in Uyo. It identified Akpabio as the acting president, Senate president and chairman of the National Assembly. Officials later edited the description and removed the reference.

The wording appeared while President Bola Tinubu was outside Nigeria on a three-week vacation in Europe. Vice President Kashim Shettima had also travelled to Angola to represent Tinubu at an African Union summit. The Presidency said Tinubu left Abuja on Aug. 30, with London as his first destination, and was expected to return for activities ahead of the 2027 elections. Shettima returned on Aug. 31 after completing his engagements in Luanda.

Some Akwa Ibom Facebook users had already been celebrating Akpabio as acting president. One user, Ima Utip, wrote: “Thank God our Senator Godswill Akpabio is the acting president…let’s build Ibom Deep Seaport.”

The constitutional position is less straightforward. Section 145 of Nigeria’s amended 1999 Constitution says a president who goes on vacation or cannot perform presidential duties should transmit a written declaration to the Senate president and the speaker of the House of Representatives. The Presidency has not publicly said whether Tinubu sent such a declaration before leaving.

Section 145 specifically identifies the vice president, rather than the Senate president, as the person who performs the president’s functions during a temporary absence. Section 146 allows the Senate president to assume the presidency only if the presidential office becomes vacant and the vice-presidential office is also vacant. It does not ordinarily make the Senate president acting president simply because both the president and vice president are abroad.

“

Thank God our Senator Godswill Akpabio is the acting president…let’s build Ibom Deep Seaport.