In a statement issued on Sunday by its spokesperson Bolaji Abdullahi, the party said, “After waiting for more than two years, and with Nigeria’s diplomacy and global perception in historic tatters, President Bola Tinubu presents an outrageously underwhelming ambassadorial list that appears designed to settle his political IOUs rather than fix Nigeria’s urgent international relations crises.”
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s ambassadorial nominations, describing the inclusion of former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, as insensitive and damaging to Nigeria’s democratic credibility.
In a statement issued on Sunday by its spokesperson Bolaji Abdullahi, the party said, “After waiting for more than two years, and with Nigeria’s diplomacy and global perception in historic tatters, President Bola Tinubu presents an outrageously underwhelming ambassadorial list that appears designed to settle his political IOUs rather than fix Nigeria’s urgent international relations crises.”
The party argued that rather than rebuilding Nigeria’s diplomatic image, the President has presented “a comic cast of political jobbers, corruption suspects, and a patronage of wives, children, and relatives of his political associates,” at a time the country urgently needs professionalism and credibility in its foreign missions.
Central to the ADC’s outrage is the nomination of Yakubu, who supervised the contentious 2023 general elections.
The party said, “However, at the heart of this troubling list lies the nomination of Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the immediate past Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), who conducted the election that brought Tinubu in as President of Nigeria.”
Describing the appointment as inappropriate, the ADC noted, “The ADC views the appointment of Prof. Yakubu as embarrassingly insensitive, especially coming barely two years after supervising a highly controversial election that ushered in President Tinubu as President and only a few weeks after leaving office as INEC Chairman.”
“This particular appointment of Prof. Yakubu blurs what should be a distinct line between players and umpires,” it said.
Warning of long-term consequences, the ADC said, “If allowed to stand, it would set a dangerous precedent where future INEC chairmen and commissioners may begin to see their positions as stepping stones to future political rewards.
“Once that mindset enters the bloodstream of our electoral system, neutrality becomes impossible, partisanship becomes inevitable, and elections become transactional.”
