The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has dismissed the significance of the purported letter from United States President Donald Trump to President Bola Tinubu, saying the correspondence does not amount to an endorsement of the Nigerian President or his administration.
The opposition party said the Presidency was wrongly presenting the letter as a referendum on the state of the nation, insisting that diplomatic exchanges between world leaders are routine and should not be interpreted as proof of good governance.
This position was contained in a statement issued on Thursday by the ADC’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi.
According to the party, celebrating a diplomatic communication from a foreign leader only exposed what it described as President Tinubu’s desperation for international validation.
“The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has noted the Presidency’s attempt to present President Donald Trump’s letter to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as though it were a referendum on the state of the nation. It is not. While we hold the office and person of the President of the United States in high esteem, it is important to note that diplomatic correspondence between heads of state is a normal feature of international relations. Countries cooperate, leaders exchange views, and letters are exchanged,” the statement said.
The ADC added, “What is apparent, however, is this administration’s desperation to seize upon any gesture of international recognition as proof of success at home. A letter from a foreign president, however well-intentioned, cannot substitute for the verdict of the Nigerian people. The true measure of any government is not what is written about it abroad, but what its citizens experience every day.”
The party argued that the letter did not change the country’s security situation, noting that many Nigerians were still facing insecurity across several parts of the country.
“That is why the celebration surrounding this letter is difficult to understand. For the millions of Nigerians still living with the consequences of this government’s failures, President Trump’s communication changes nothing. It did not say that insecurity has been overcome or that Nigerians can once again travel freely, farm safely, and sleep without fear,” the ADC stated.
ADC also pointed to the United States government’s travel advisory, noting that it remained unchanged despite the release of the letter by the Presidency.
“Indeed, it is telling that even as the Presidency chose to publicise President Trump’s letter, the United States Department of State’s travel advisory on Nigeria remained unchanged. While the Presidency celebrated what it regards as an endorsement from the White House, the official U.S. government advisory continued to place parts of Nigeria under Level 3 and Level 4 travel warnings, urging American citizens to reconsider travel because of crime, terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping, and other security concerns,” the statement read.
Questioning the Presidency’s interpretation of the letter, the ADC said, “We therefore wonder how correspondence from a government that designates several Nigerian states as ‘Do Not Travel’ areas can be regarded as an endorsement. That advisory alone is a reminder that, whatever diplomatic courtesies may be exchanged between presidents, the international assessment of Nigeria’s security challenges remains far removed from the picture the Presidency is eager to paint.”
The party maintained that the communication was simply an exchange between two heads of state and did not absolve the Tinubu administration of its responsibility to address Nigeria’s challenges.
“For all intents and purposes, President Trump’s letter is simply communication between one president and another. It does not amount to an endorsement of this government’s overall performance, nor does it absolve the administration of its responsibility to confront the challenges that continue to weigh heavily on more than 200 million Nigerians,” it said.
The ADC urged the Federal Government to focus more on solving the country’s problems than celebrating diplomatic correspondence.
“The Tinubu administration would therefore do well to devote less energy to celebrating letters of courtesy from abroad and more to delivering measurable results at home. Ultimately, Nigerians will not judge this government by the letters it receives from foreign capitals. They will judge it by whether it improved the lives of the people it was elected to serve,” the statement added.
The reaction comes after the Presidency released what it described as a letter from President Trump dated July 6, 2026, in which the US leader thanked Tinubu for his correspondence, praised his administration’s fight against terrorism and reaffirmed security cooperation between Nigeria and the United States.
However, a United States lobbying firm, Von Batten-Montague-York, later questioned the authenticity of the document released by the Presidency, arguing that its format differed significantly from authentic correspondence previously sent by Trump to other world leaders.
The lobbying firm said it was not claiming that no diplomatic response had been sent to Tinubu or accusing the President of fabricating the letter, but argued that publishing only the text instead of a scanned copy of the original document had raised questions.
“We are not saying that a standard diplomatic response letter was never sent to President Tinubu. Nor are we saying that President Tinubu fabricated the purported letter. What we are saying is that it is unusual for a letter to be quoted in full, including the date and signature block, rather than simply publishing an image of the actual letter itself. Until the actual letter is released, whether real or fake, Nigerians must understand that Tinubu is trying to fool you,” the firm stated.
