The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has intensified pressure on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, questioning his capacity to continue discharging the responsibilities of his office and calling on the National Assembly to immediately investigate what it described as a deepening constitutional crisis within the Presidency.
The opposition party said a string of controversial appointments, policy reversals and alleged disregard for presidential directives has created the impression that forces outside the constitutional chain of command may now be exercising powers reserved exclusively for the President.
In a strongly worded statement on Friday, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, argued that the unfolding leadership controversy at the Border Communities Development Agency (BCDA) had exposed what it called a dangerous erosion of presidential authority.
According to the ADC, reports that an official allegedly removed by presidential directive continues to occupy office and conduct government business raise troubling questions about who truly controls the machinery of the Federal Government.
“If the reports concerning the BCDA are true, then Nigeria is no longer dealing with mere administrative confusion. We are witnessing a struggle for the control of the Presidency itself,” the party stated.
The ADC said the BCDA controversy mirrors the earlier Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) scandal, in which an organisation reportedly functioned as a government agency despite later being declared non-existent by the Presidency.
Taken together, the party argued, the incidents suggest a Presidency struggling to maintain its constitutional monopoly over appointments and the removal of public officials.
It warned that Nigerians have increasingly been left uncertain whether presidential pronouncements represent final executive decisions or are subject to reversal by unidentified interests operating behind the scenes.
The opposition party also accused the Tinubu administration of developing a pattern of policy inconsistency, citing the suspension of the Cybersecurity Levy, the withdrawal of the Expatriate Employment Levy and other controversial government decisions that were reversed after public criticism.
According to the ADC, the repeated policy reversals have weakened institutional confidence, unsettled investors and created uncertainty within the public service.
The party insisted that the National Assembly must urgently exercise its constitutional oversight powers to determine whether President Tinubu remains fully capable of personally exercising the executive authority vested in him by the Constitution.
It maintained that the investigation should establish whether presidential powers are being exercised directly by the President or have effectively been appropriated by unelected actors.
The ADC further argued that if President Tinubu is no longer able to assert effective control over his administration, the most honourable option would be to relinquish office.
The party said the issues at stake transcend partisan politics, warning that uncertainty over the source of executive authority poses serious risks to constitutional governance, democratic accountability and public confidence in the Presidency.
