Europe Vacation: AAC drags Tinubu to court over failure to notify NASS

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By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

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ABUJA — The African Action Congress (AAC) has approached the Federal High Court in Abuja, praying it to declare that President Bola Tinubu breached Section 145(1) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, by embarking on a month-long vacation in Europe without transmitting a written notice to the National Assembly (NASS).

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The party, in the suit it filed on Monday, urged the court to hold that, by the express provisions of the Constitution, the President is mandated to transmit a written declaration to the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives before proceeding on vacation for any number of days.

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Aside from President Tinubu, the other defendants in the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2358/2026, are the Attorney General of the Federation, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the NASS.

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According to the plaintiff, Tinubu left Nigeria for Europe on August 30, 2026, and remained there as of the date the legal action was instituted.

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It wants the court to declare that the alleged failure to transmit the declaration before the trip is “undemocratic and a gross violation of the Constitution.”

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Besides, the plaintiff, through its lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, challenged what it termed the NASS’s failure to convene and pass a resolution authorising the Vice-President to act as President after Tinubu had spent more than 21 days on vacation.

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It is asking the court to declare that the failure by the National Assembly to act was “unlawful, unconstitutional and a violation of the mandatory duty imposed on the National Assembly under Section 145(2)” of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.

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As part of the reliefs it is seeking, the AAC prayed the court for an order of perpetual injunction restraining President Tinubu from embarking on any future vacation, whether within or outside Nigeria, without first transmitting the required written declaration to the Senate President and the Speaker.

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Meanwhile, no date has been fixed for the hearing of the matter.

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