The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has alleged that President Bola Tinubu might have lost control of his administration.

The party said this while reacting to the leadership crisis at the Border Communities Development Agency (BCDA).

Daily Trust had reported how Dr Dakorinama Alabo George, governorship aspirant under the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, refused to vacate the office of the Executive Secretary, despite his replacement by the Presidency.

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George had resigned to contest the governorship primaries in Rivers alongside Governor Siminalayi Fubara, Kingsley Chinda and Tonye Cole.

However, he withdrew from the contest at the last minute to pave the way for Chinda, Wike’s anointed candidate, who subsequently emerged as the APC governorship flag bearer in Rivers.

As George failed to secure the APC governorship ticket, he returned to his office at the agency.

Meanwhile, a former House of Representatives member, Abdulrazak Sa’ad Namdas, whom Tinubu appointed as his replacement has been unable to assume office.

Reacting to the controversy, Bolaji Abdullahi, ADC spokesman, says a Presidency where official appointments can allegedly be ignored without consequence raises serious questions about who is really in control of the administration.

Abdullahi said the BCDA dispute, together with the earlier Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) scandal and a pattern of policy reversals, suggests that unelected individuals may have hijacked the President’s constitutional powers to appoint and remove public officers.

The ADC called on the National Assembly to activate the relevant constitutional provisions to ascertain the President’s fitness to continue in office, arguing that if he can no longer assert control over his government, he should resign.

“The African Democratic Congress (ADC) is deeply alarmed by yet another bizarre episode in the affairs of the Federal Government, where a man publicly removed from office by presidential directive reportedly continues to occupy that same office and still hold meetings with senior officials of the same government.”

“If the reports concerning the Border Communities Development Agency (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? When a President announces the appointment of one person and another simply ignores that directive and carries on in office, Nigeria is no longer witnessing administrative confusion. We are witnessing a struggle for control of the Presidency itself.

“The BCDA episode cannot be dismissed as an isolated incident because it follows a growing and disturbing pattern. Nigerians are still watching in bewilderment, the embarrassing spectacle of the so-called phantom Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), a government agency that officially did not exist, yet somehow operated at the highest level of government, and conducted itself with the confidence of a legitimate institution. It was only when allegations emerged of its fake Director-General’s collaboration with the President’s Chief of Staff that the scandal could no longer be ignored.

“Taken together, these episodes reveal a Presidency steadily losing its monopoly over one of the most fundamental powers of government: the constitutional authority to appoint and remove public officers. Today, Nigerians no longer know whether an appointment announced by the Presidency is final, whether a dismissal actually takes effect, or whether someone somewhere possesses a superior authority capable of overruling presidential decisions without explanation.

“Effectively, the Tinubu administration has become a place where official announcements compete with unofficial power, where competing interests fight over appointments and patronage. Under President Tinubu, the Nigerian Presidency, like the Nigerian economy and Nigeria’s security situation has started to resemble a system governed by the principle of the survival of the fittest.

“This is made even worse by a disturbing pattern of public reversals that has become the defining feature of this administration. From the hurried suspension of the Cybersecurity Levy after nationwide outrage, to the withdrawal of the Expatriate Employment Levy following resistance from investors, to repeated policy summersaults and contradictory government announcements across several sectors, Nigerians have become accustomed to a government that announces first, retreats later, and explains afterwards.

“A government that cannot consistently stand by its own decisions gradually loses not only credibility, but authority. Investors become uncertain. The bureaucracy become confused. Public institutions begin to test the limits of their power because they no longer know whether today’s directive will still exist tomorrow.

“At this point, Nigerians deserve answers that go beyond carefully managed press statements. Who is exercising the constitutional powers of the President? Who authorises appointments? Who countermanded the President’s directive at the BCDA, if indeed it has been countermanded? Who permitted a fictitious agency to masquerade as an arm of the Presidency? These are not opposition questions. They are constitutional questions. They go directly to the integrity of executive authority and the stability of our nation.

“A country where citizens, investors, diplomats and even public servants doubt whether the signature of the President is the final authority of the executive arm of the federal government as it has happened under this Tinubu administration, is a country in deep trouble.

“In view of the grave constitutional implications of these repeated episodes, the National Assembly should immediately exercise its oversight responsibilities and invoke the relevant constitutional provisions to satisfy itself that the President remains fully capable in body and sound mind to discharge the duties of his office and that the powers vested in him by the Constitution are being personally exercised by him, not appropriated by unelected interests operating behind the scenes.

“If President Tinubu is unable to assert control over his own Presidency, then the honourable course is to acknowledge that reality and resign. Nigeria cannot afford a Presidency where nobody knows who is truly in charge.” (Daily Trust)

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