Shettima Returns From AU Summit

Vice-President Kashim Shettima has returned to Nigeria following his participation at the 21st Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) in Luanda, Angola.

Shettima represented President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the high-level summit, where Nigeria called for stronger African-led mechanisms for conflict prevention and resolution, as well as urgent continental action against recurring xenophobic and Afrophobic attacks on Africans and other nationals in South Africa.

At the summit, Nigeria also backed the Luanda Action Plan and called for sustainable financing of Africa’s peace and security architecture, stronger collective responsibility among AU member states and greater African ownership of solutions to conflicts on the continent.

The Vice President returned to Abuja after the conclusion of his engagements in Angola.

His absence had sparked some concerns as critics faulted President Tinubu’s departure to Europe on a three-week vacation when his deputy was abroad.

Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, National Chairman of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), had raised the issue at the G100 Summit, which held in Abuja earlier on Monday.

“We have a president who is out of the country, trying to cover up from Nigerians knowing the truth about what may have happened some years back when he was in America regarding drugs,” he said.

“His deputy is in Angola. For the first time, perhaps, in the history of this country, you have a president who is outside the country and a vice-president who is outside the country.”

The PRP chairman subsequently questioned the whereabouts of Nigeria’s leadership, asking, “Who is in charge of the country now?”