The African Democratic Congress has welcomed President Bola Tinubu back to Nigeria, while calling for clarity on his unexplained five-day absence following the 2025 BRICS Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
In a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Bola Abdullahi, the party stated that a president who vanishes without accountability cannot be relied upon to address the pressing challenges facing the nation.
Tinubu left Abuja on June 28, 2025, starting his journey with a state visit to Saint Lucia to deepen relations with Caribbean countries and promote South-South cooperation. The visit also coincided with Saint Lucia’s 45th Independence Anniversary.
He then travelled to Brazil on July 4 to attend the 2025 BRICS Summit, which took place in Rio de Janeiro from July 6 to 7. The President returned in the early hours of Sunday.
In response, the ADC questioned President Tinubu’s whereabouts during the five-day gap following the conclusion of the BRICS Summit.
The opposition leaders’ coalition platform stated, “The African Democratic Congress 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 was 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 holiday; 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.”
The ADC stated that a president who disappears without offering any accountability lacks the moral ground to ask citizens to make sacrifices.
The statement added, “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 did not deserve to know. Each episode of Mr. President’s mysterious disappearances has sparked all manner of speculations and rumours that are not only unhealthy to the polity, but also endanger Nigeria’s perception in the eyes of the world.”
