The African Democratic Congress has thrown down the gauntlet, demanding that the National Assembly immediately investigate whether President Bola Tinubu is still mentally and physically fit to govern amid explosive claims that unelected shadow figures are now calling the shots from Aso Rock.
In a blistering statement Friday, the opposition party warned that Nigeria is witnessing not mere administrative confusion but a “struggle for control of the presidency itself”—pointing to a damning pattern of ignored directives, phantom agencies, and humiliating policy U-turns that have reduced the government to a laughingstock.
“If Directives Can Be Ignored, Who’s Really in Charge?”
The ADC’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, zeroed in on the raging leadership crisis at the Border Communities Development Agency (BCDA) where an official reportedly sacked by presidential order is still occupying office and convening meetings as if nothing happened.
“If the reports concerning the BCDA are true, then this is no longer about one disputed appointment. It is about something far more disturbing: who is actually in charge of the Nigerian presidency?” the party demanded.
The ADC argued that when a presidential directive can be flouted with zero consequences, the nation is no longer dealing with incompetence but a full-blown power vacuum.
A Pattern of Chaos: Phantom Agencies & Embarrassing Reversals
The opposition party tore into what it called a “growing pattern of confusion” under Tinubu’s watch, citing:
· The scandal of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council—a “phantom” agency that reportedly operated at the highest levels without legal status
· The Cybersecurity Levy suspended after mass outrage
· The Expatriate Employment Levy withdrawn following business community backlash
“A government that cannot consistently stand by its own decisions gradually loses not only credibility, but authority,” the ADC warned. “Investors become uncertain. The bureaucracy becomes confused. Public institutions begin to test the limits.”
Constitutional Questions That Demand Answers
The ADC fired off a series of explosive questions that it insists are not partisan but constitutional:
Who is exercising the presidential powers of Nigeria right now?
Who authorises appointments?
Who countermanded the president’s directive at the BCDA?
Who permitted a fictitious agency to masquerade as an arm of the presidency?
“These are not opposition questions. They are constitutional questions,” the party thundered.
ADC to N’Assembly: Invoke Constitutional Powers NOW
The opposition party is now demanding that the National Assembly immediately:
1. Invoke constitutional provisions to determine if President Tinubu remains “fully capable in body and sound mind” to discharge his duties
2. Verify that presidential powers are being personally exercised by the elected president not “appropriated by unelected interests operating behind the scenes”
3. Compel the president to acknowledge reality and resign if he can no longer assert authority over his own administration
The Bottom Line
With investor confidence crumbling, public institutions in disarray, and mounting speculation about who truly wields power in Aso Rock, the ADC has thrown down an unmistakable challenge: Nigeria deserves to know if its president is still in the driver’s seat or if the nation is being steered by invisible hands.
The ball is now in the National Assembly’s court.
