Group seeks speedy confirmation for Buratai, others

The African Centre for Leadership and Good Governance (ACLG) has asked the Senate to confirm President Muhammadu Buhari’s nomination of former service chiefs as ambassadors.
Last month, Buhari, in a letter to the Senate nominated General Tukur Buratai, former Chief of Defence Staff, Abayomi Olonisakin; Navy Chief, Ibok Ete Ekwe Ibas, Air Chief Sadique Abubakar and the intelligence chief as ambassadors; after serving as service chiefs since 2015.
The group urged the Senate to confirm them in line with its “bow and go” tradition and also, noted in a statement signed by by its Head of Communications, Janet McDickson, and released to newsmen in Abuja, yesterday, that “the National Assembly is under obligation to consider the nominations on the basis of merit, qualification and capacities and that the onus now falls on the Senate to use its screening and approval processes in tandem with the law of the country, to favor these men of tested loyalty and professionalism.
“As the nominations mean a reward for hard work and exceptional sacrifices and a service to the nation, the past service chiefs are really worthy ambassadors, who deserve to be honored with the service of further pushing the country forward in foreign relations and international diplomacy…
“We, at ACLG therefore, call on the Senate that General Buratai and the former service chiefs should take a bow and go.”
The group insisted that “a lot of issues” thrown up against Buratai and the former service chiefs “were dead and buried” and and that the appointment is a case of “putting a square peg in a square hole.”