ADC Criticises Tinubu Over Ambassadorial Postings

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has criticised the Bola Tinubu administration for announcing only 65 ambassadorial postings out of Nigeria’s 109 diplomatic missions, describing the action as a diplomatic misstep that could expose the country to international embarrassment.

In a statement issued on Friday, the party’s national publicity secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said publicly announcing ambassadorial postings before securing the required consent, known as agrément from host countries violates established diplomatic procedures under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. He warned that such a move could embarrass Nigeria if any receiving country rejects a nominee.

President Tinubu on Friday assigned 65 career and non-career ambassadors to various countries after weeks of anticipation surrounding the postings.

However, the ADC questioned why the government has yet to address the remaining 44 diplomatic missions that currently have no ambassadors.

It stated, “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.

“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. Requests for agrément are a foundational principle of international diplomacy and are normally done through diplomatic channels.

“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. This absurdity becomes even more apparent when one considers that the receiving country reserves the right to accept or reject a nomination after conducting its due diligence. It is in order to save the sending country the embarrassment that a rejection may cause that the process is usually done behind the scenes. But this government does not get it.

“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 opposition party further argued that the administration appeared more concerned with appeasing political interests than adhering to proper diplomatic procedures.

It added, “The question to ask is: why did it take the government more than three months after nominating these ambassadors before now requesting consent? We also note how conspicuously silent the government is on the US mission. 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? Are those posts to remain vacant indefinitely while Nigeria’s diplomatic presence continues to shrink at a time of rising global uncertainty? Is Nigeria closing down or degrading these missions? What strategy would have informed this choice?

“The Tinubu government has 449 days left. And, as 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 damage that would do to the country is indeed hard to contemplate.”