- The Akwa Ibom State Government has sparked controversy after referring to Senate President Godswill Akpabio as Nigeria’s “Acting President” in an official social media post.
- The statement was later deleted, while the state Commissioner for Information, Aniekan Umanah, described it as a possible mistake by the social media handler.
The Akwa Ibom State Government has sparked controversy after referring to Senate President Godswill Akpabio as the “Acting President of Nigeria” in an official social media post.
The description appeared on the state government’s Facebook livestream on Tuesday during the official reception of a new Airbus A220-300 aircraft acquired by Ibom Air at the Victor Attah International Airport, Uyo.
The original post described Akpabio as follows:
“Arrival of the Acting President of Nigeria, Sen. Dr. Godswill Akpabio, GCON, President of the Senate, Chairman of the National Assembly, at the Official Reception and Water Cannon Ceremony for the brand-new Airbus A220-300, as part of the activities commemorating the 39th Anniversary Celebration of Akwa Ibom State.”
The statement was later edited, with the reference to Akpabio as “Acting President of Nigeria” removed.
The controversy comes as President Bola Tinubu is currently 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 but returned to Abuja on Monday, August 31.
Under Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution, when a president proceeds on vacation or is unable to perform his duties, he is expected to transmit a written declaration to the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives.
There has been no public announcement from the Presidency confirming that Tinubu transmitted such a declaration before leaving Nigeria.
The Constitution also does not ordinarily make the Senate President acting president simply because both the president and vice president are temporarily outside the country.
Section 146 deals with situations in which the office of president becomes vacant and the vice presidency is also vacant, allowing the Senate President to assume the office. It does not provide for the Senate President to automatically become acting president because of a temporary absence.
Akpabio, who served as governor of Akwa Ibom from 2007 to 2015, was in Uyo for the reception of Ibom Air’s latest aircraft as part of activities marking the state’s 39th anniversary.
The aircraft, registered as 5N-CDC, was delivered to Ibom Air after being handed over at the Airbus final assembly facility in Mirabel, Canada.
The state government is also scheduled to commission 39 projects during the anniversary activities, with President Tinubu expected to visit the state for some of the commissioning ceremonies.
The use of the “Acting President” title has nevertheless generated questions, especially following the subsequent deletion of the post.
Speaking on the matter, Akwa Ibom Commissioner for Information, Aniekan Umanah, initially denied that the state government had referred to Akpabio as acting president.
However, after being informed that a screenshot of the original post existed, he suggested that it was likely an error by the person handling the government’s social media account.
“I don’t know. Maybe somebody made a mistake. There’s nothing like that (acting president) in the country,” he said.
When asked further about who authorised the description, Umanah added, “Nobody authorised that (reference) here. Maybe the people typing may have made a mistake, but that cannot be the position of the state government.”
