ADC Challenges President Tinubu Over Five-Day Post-BRICS Absence, Cites Pattern of Unexplained Trips

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has issued a stern challenge to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, demanding a clear explanation for his five-day absence from public view following the conclusion of the 17th BRICS Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The President returned to Nigeria in the early hours of Sunday, July 13, 2025, after the summit officially ended on Monday, July 7.

In a strongly worded statement signed by Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, Interim National Publicity Secretary of the ADC and spokesperson for the opposition coalition, the party extended a “weary welcome” to the President. Abdullahi highlighted that while other world leaders who attended the summit promptly returned home, briefed their citizens, and resumed duties, President Tinubu remained out of public sight without official communication regarding his whereabouts.

“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,” Abdullahi stated. “The President was not on holidays; he was on official duty. We therefore cannot wish those five days away, and we demand a clear explanation for them.”

President Tinubu had departed Abuja on Saturday, June 28, 2025, for a two-nation visit that included Saint Lucia before proceeding to Brazil for the BRICS Summit, where Nigeria participated as a formal partner country for the first time. The summit concluded on July 7, prompting questions about the President’s activities during the subsequent period before his arrival back in Abuja on Sunday, July 13.

The ADC further noted what it described as a “distinct hallmark of disdain for accountability” regarding the President’s overseas travels. The party cited several alleged instances of unexplained absences in 2024:

• A “private visit” to France in January 2024 reportedly stretched into a two-week disappearance without photos or official statements.
• After the World Economic Forum in Riyadh, which ended on April 29, 2024, the President was not heard from until May 8, 2024, a nine-day “unexplained vacuum.”
• In August 2024, following engagements in Beijing, China, the President allegedly vanished from public view on September 5 and “mysteriously surfaced” in London on September 11, a six-day absence without explanation or a letter to the National Assembly.
• Another “brief work stay” in Paris in August 2024 reportedly saw him incommunicado for three days before a quiet return.

Abdullahi warned that “each episode of Mr. President’s mysterious disappearances has sparked all manners of speculations and rumours that are not only unhealthy to the polity but also endanger Nigeria’s perception in the eyes of the world.” He called on Nigerians to take note of what he termed a growing trend of secrecy, asserting that “A president that vanishes without accountability has no moral authority to demand sacrifice from citizens.”

As of press time, the Presidency has not issued a detailed explanation for the President’s activities during the five-day period, beyond confirming his return to Abuja via a brief post by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga. The ADC’s statement adds to the ongoing scrutiny of presidential transparency in Nigeria’s political landscape.