ADC questions Tinubu over 65 ambassadorial posting...

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has criticised the administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu over its recent announcement of ambassadorial postings, describing the move as a diplomatic blunder that reflects what the opposition party called the government’s “storied incompetence.”

In a statement issued by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC argued that publicly announcing ambassadorial postings before obtaining the consent of host countries violates established diplomatic procedures and could expose Nigeria to international embarrassment.

The party noted that under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, particularly Article 4, a country must first obtain the approval known as agrément of the receiving state before officially announcing the appointment of a head of mission.

According to Abdullahi, the government’s decision to announce the postings while still seeking such consent demonstrates a lack of understanding of diplomatic protocols.

“Under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, particularly Article 4, a sending state must first obtain the consent, known as agrément, of the receiving state before officially appointing or announcing a head of mission,” the statement read.

He added that requests for agrément are usually conducted discreetly through diplomatic channels to avoid embarrassment should a host country reject a nominee.

“By announcing appointments and then requesting consent, it indicates that the government does not know what it is doing. You cannot announce postings and say in the same statement that you are just requesting agrément,” Abdullahi said.

CBI News reports that the ADC further criticised the government for failing to learn from similar controversies in the past, recalling what it described as a previous diplomatic misstep involving announcements of postings to countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, France and Turkey.

“After the blunder of similarly announcing postings to the UK, the United States and France last year, including sending an unscreened ambassador to Turkey, we would have expected the government to learn its lessons and course-correct,” the party stated.

Beyond the procedural concerns, the ADC also questioned the scope of the announcement, noting that only 65 ambassadors were named despite Nigeria maintaining about 109 diplomatic missions worldwide.

The party asked why the government had remained silent about the remaining 44 missions that were not included in the announcement.

“Equally troubling is the incomplete nature of the announcement itself. Nigeria maintains 109 diplomatic missions around the world, yet the government has only announced 65 ambassadors. What happens to the remaining 44 missions?” the statement asked.

The opposition party warned that leaving several missions without envoys could weaken Nigeria’s diplomatic presence at a time of increasing global uncertainty.

It also criticised the delay between the Senate’s confirmation of the ambassadors and the eventual announcement of their postings.

“After nearly three years in office, and three months after the Senate confirmation of the ambassadors, today’s announcement by the State House puts the cart before the horse and demonstrates the Tinubu administration’s inability to grasp the basic protocol of diplomatic relations,” Abdullahi said.

The ADC warned that the administration has limited time left to address what it described as lapses in governance.

“The Tinubu government has 449 days left. And like we have repeatedly warned, this may be the first administration in Nigeria so incompetent that it could not even appoint ambassadors at a time Nigeria needs to sit at the table at the highest levels of global governance,” the statement added.