The African Democratic Congress, ADC, has criticized the ambassadorial postings recently announced by President Bola Tinubu, describing the move as a diplomatic blunder and evidence of incompetence by the administration.
In a press statement issued on Saturday, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said the government erred by publicly announcing ambassadorial postings before securing the required consent of host countries, known as agrément.
According to the ADC, the move contradicts established diplomatic protocol under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
Abdullahi said, “Publicly announcing the postings before securing the required agrément from host countries exposes Nigeria to avoidable diplomatic embarrassment.”
He added that under Article 4 of the Vienna Convention, a sending state must first obtain the consent of the receiving state before appointing or announcing a head of mission.
“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 stated.
The opposition party also raised concerns over the number of ambassadors announced by the government.
It noted that while Nigeria maintains about 109 diplomatic missions worldwide, the administration only announced 65 ambassadors, leaving 44 missions without envoys.
“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?” Abdullahi asked.
The party further questioned the delay in seeking consent from host countries months after the ambassadors were nominated and confirmed by the Senate.
“Why did it take the government more than three months after nominating these ambassadors before now requesting consent?” he queried, adding that the government was also silent about Nigeria’s mission to the United States.
Abdullahi warned that the situation could weaken Nigeria’s global diplomatic presence.
“The Tinubu government has 449 days left. 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.”
Another level of incompetence – ADC slams Tinubu’s ambassadorial postings
