The African Democratic Congress (ADC) extends a weary welcome to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for finally returning to the country five days after the end of the 2025 BRICS Summit which held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Since the summit ended on Monday, July 7th, all the other world leaders who were in attendance returned home, briefed their citizens, and got back to work. But our President? He only reappeared in Abuja in the early hours of Sunday, July 13—without a word, without a briefing, or any explanation as to why his return to the country had been delayed.
A whole five days is significant in the life of a country, especially a country like ours battling with several existential challenges of insecurity and a tottering economy that has made life increasingly difficult for the majority of Nigerians. The President was not on holidays, he was on official duty. We therefore cannot wish those five days away and we demand a clear explanation for them.
The ADC also notes with concern that this disdain for accountability around the President’s overseas trip has become a distinct hallmark of this administration.
In January 2024, a so-called “private visit” to France turned into a two-week disappearance. No photos, and no statements from our President.
In April 2024, President Tinubu travelled to the Netherlands, and then to Riyadh, for the World Economic Forum. The summit ended on April 29th, 2024, but there was not a word from him until May 8th, 2024. Those were nine days of unexplained vacuum.
In August 2024, President Tinubu flew to China via Dubai. After his engagements in Beijing, he vanished from public view on September 5th, and mysteriously surfaced in London on September 11th. He was missing for six days—no explanations, no letter transmitted to the National Assembly, just silence.
And in the same August 2024, the President also embarked on yet another “brief work stay” in Paris. He remained incommunicado for three days, then quietly returned, as if the nation does not deserve to know.
Each episode of Mr. President’s mysterious disappearances has sparked all manners of speculations and rumours that are not only unhealthy to the polity, but also endangers Nigeria’s perception in the eyes of the world.
We urge Nigerians to take note. A president that disappears without explanation cannot be trusted to be present to solve the crises that we face. A President that vanishes without accountability has no moral authority to demand sacrifice from citizens. Most importantly, a ruling party that makes excuses for these serial disappearances has nothing but contempt for the people it governs and has no regard for accountability.
Signed:
Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi
Interim National Publicity Secretary
African Democratic Congress (ADC) and Spokesman of the Coalition.
