It Is Not Your GPS – Senate Reveals Why It Won’t Intervene In Tinubu’s Stay Abroad

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, has dismissed calls for the National Assembly to reconvene over President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s continued stay abroad,

Adaramodu stated that the National Assembly was a lawmaking body and not a political platform.

Naija News reports that some members of the House of Representatives in the Save Democracy Group (SDG) have called for the National Assembly to reconvene immediately to address what they described as constitutional uncertainty over President Bola Tinubu’s prolonged absence from the country. 

However, Adaramodu, who represents Ekiti South Senatorial District, while speaking with Leadership on Thursday said there is “no reason for such a call.”

He argued that the legislature should not be dragged into what he described as political arguments over the President’s absence.

There is no reason for such a call,” Adaramodu said when asked whether the Senate should immediately reconvene to address concerns over Tinubu’s absence.

The controversy followed the Presidency’s announcement that Tinubu departed Nigeria on August 30, 2026, for a three-week vacation and subsequently extended his stay abroad by a few days

However, Adaramodu said the matter had already been addressed by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, who spoke on Tuesday in Akwa Ibom State while inaugurating road projects executed by Governor Umo Eno.

Adaramodu said the President remained in regular contact with Nigerians and questioned why the National Assembly should be expected to respond to every statement made by politicians or civil society organisations.

“Some of these civil society organisations, they are citing Section 145, where some people are playing their politics. The National Assembly is not a political platform. It’s a lawmaking platform,” he said.

He said politicians were entitled to make their comments, particularly as elections approach, but lawmakers would not turn every political statement into a parliamentary matter.

“It is the business of politicians to talk,” Adaramodu said.

The senator also dismissed the argument that the physical location of political leaders automatically determined whether they were performing their constitutional duties

Asked whether leaders could effectively discharge their responsibilities from wherever they were, Adaramodu said the issue was functionality rather than geography.

“It is not geography; it is functionality,” he said. “It is your functionality that dictates whether you are performing your duties or you are not performing your duties. It’s not your GPS.”