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Citizen Bolaji O. Akinyemi has raised fresh concerns over the foreign policy direction of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, warning that the administration’s refusal to appoint ambassadors nearly two years into his tenure amounts to a deliberate personalization of diplomacy and a dangerous silence that undermines Nigeria’s global standing.

In a strongly worded statement titled “What is Tinubu Hiding from Nigerians and Covering from the Global Community?”, Akinyemi described Tinubu’s government as “a presidency of paradox,” noting that while the President “rode into power under the slogan of Renewed Hope,” Nigerians have instead been confronted with “a President constantly on the move—shuttling between world capitals—while the very springboards of Nigeria’s diplomacy, its embassies and high commissions, remain headless and hollow.”

“This paradox begs the question: what is Tinubu hiding from Nigerians, and what is he trying to cover from the global community?” he asked.

Akinyemi rooted his argument in the intervention of Dr. Ola Olateju, a Swansea University-trained political scientist, who in Political Panorama, Issue No. 17 (June 2, 2025), published a piece titled “Nigeria Without Ambassadors: A Silent Crisis in Tinubu’s Foreign Policy Vision.” He described Olateju’s work as “the intellectual spark” for his interrogation.

According to him, Olateju’s meticulously researched essay “stripped away the excuses of ‘financial constraints’ and ‘security vetting delays,’ showing instead how Nigeria’s prolonged absence from global representation is a self-inflicted wound.”

“If our embassies are empty, while our President is busy globe-trotting, then should we not ask—what exactly is being hidden, and from whom?” Akinyemi queried.

He lamented that since September 2023, Nigeria has had no substantive ambassadors in most of its foreign missions, warning that “the cost is more than administrative; it is strategic self-sabotage.”

“Ambassadors are the eyes, ears, and voices of the state abroad. Their absence reduces Nigeria’s foreign presence to shadows. It silences our voice in multilateral forums, weakens our hand in negotiations, and abandons our citizens abroad,” Akinyemi stated.

He argued that the silence is not an accident but “strategy,” insisting that Tinubu’s refusal to appoint ambassadors amounts to the deliberate personalization of statecraft. “Tinubu’s foreign travels, devoid of ambassadorial structures, centralize negotiations in his person. Trade deals, bilateral talks, and multilateral commitments—normally institutionalized through embassies—are reduced to presidential handshakes and fleeting announcements,” he said.

The cleric and public commentator wondered: “What happens when the President returns to Abuja? Who follows up in those capitals? Who drafts the cables, negotiates the details, and locks in Nigeria’s interest?”

He maintained that the cost of a silent Nigeria is grave, noting that the absence of ambassadors has led to “strategic marginalization” in multilateral spaces, “diaspora abandonment” despite remittances of over $20 billion annually, “economic self-sabotage” as smaller African states seize investment opportunities, and “institutional demoralization” with dozens of career diplomats stranded in Abuja.

According to Akinyemi, the refusal to appoint ambassadors hides three fundamental weaknesses: “weak institutions,” “crony advantage,” and “diplomatic paralysis.” He warned that “every handshake abroad is a performance, a mask to cover the dysfunction at home. But global actors know. They see the absence of Nigerian envoys. They note the void in negotiations. They sense the weakness.”

Drawing on history, Akinyemi reminded Nigerians that “our embassies are ghost houses” despite the country’s proud legacy of leading the anti-apartheid struggle and brokering peace in Liberia and Sierra Leone. “Ilu ki i wa lai ni olori — no town exists without a leader. Yet Nigeria’s missions exist without ambassadors. Our nation wanders without a diplomatic head,” he lamented.

He described Olateju’s intervention as “a scholarly alarm bell,” but insisted that beyond scholarship lies a “moral reckoning: will Nigeria continue to drift leaderless in global politics while our President performs at summits?”

Calling for urgent action, Akinyemi demanded that Tinubu immediately nominate ambassadors for Senate confirmation, appoint on merit rather than patronage, rebuild a coherent foreign policy doctrine, and restore embassies as the foundation of Nigeria’s diplomacy.

Concluding, he declared: “Dr. Ola Olateju has done the intellectual heavy lifting, exposing the silent crisis in Tinubu’s foreign policy vision. My task has been to translate that intellectual diagnosis into a political and moral charge. So, what is Tinubu hiding from Nigerians? That our institutions are too weak to function. That diplomacy has been hijacked for personal advantage. That Nigeria, in truth, is absent where it most matters. And what is he covering from the global community? That Africa’s so-called giant has lost its roar.”

“But history has ears, and silence is never permanent. Nigeria will speak again—if not through this government, then through the people’s eventual awakening.”

Citizen Bolaji O. Akinyemi is an Apostle and Nation Builder, President of Voice of His Word Ministries, Convener of Apostolic Round Table, and BoT Chairman of Project Victory Call Initiative, also known as PVC Naija. He is a strategic communicator and CEO of Masterbuilder Communications.

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