Akwa Ibom State Calls Senate President Acting President

On September 1, 2023, the Akwa Ibom State Government mistakenly labeled Senate President Godswill Akpabio as the "Acting President of Nigeria" in a Facebook post during the reception of a new Ibom Air aircraft at the Victor Attah International Airport in Uyo. This post was later edited out.

President Bola Tinubu had departed Abuja for Europe on August 30 for his annual leave, with London as his first destination. Vice President Kashim Shettima was also abroad, having left for Luanda on August 29 to represent the president at the 21st Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union, returning on August 31.

Under Nigeria's 1999 Constitution, the vice president assumes presidential duties only when both the president and vice president are unavailable, not when they are temporarily out of the country. Akwa Ibom's Commissioner for Information, Aniekan Umanah, initially denied the post's existence but later suggested it was a mistake by the account manager.