The African Democratic Congress has criticised the President Bola Tinubu administration for announcing only 65 of Nigeria’s 109 ambassadorial postings, describing the move as a diplomatic blunder that exposes the country to embarrassment and reflects the government’s incompetence in handling international relations.
In a statement released on Friday, ADC National Publicity Secretary Bolaji Abdullahi said that announcing ambassadorial postings publicly before obtaining the required agrément from host countries, as mandated by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, risks causing diplomatic embarrassment for Nigeria.
After weeks of anticipation, President Tinubu on Friday assigned 65 career and non-career ambassadors to various countries worldwide.
In response, the ADC questioned why the government has remained silent on the remaining 44 missions that still lack envoys.
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.
“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.”