Fred Itua, Abuja
AMBASSADOR-NOMINEE for Kogi State, Mrs.
Regina Ingekem Ocheni,
has come under fierce
criticism for allegedly
falling short of the requirements of established rules
and guidelines in Nigeria’s
Federal Civil Service for the
position, a petition before
the Senate has revealed.
According to the petition sent to the Senate,
dated May 14, Mrs. Ocheni,
whose husband, Prof.
Stephen Ocheni, was the
immediate past Minister
of State for Labour, hailed
from Cross River State, as
against her claim of being an indigene of Kogi State.
President Muhammadu
Buhari, in a letter dated
May 6, addressed to the
Senate President, Ahmad
Lawan, nominated 42
career ambassadors from 36
states, besides the Federal
Capital Territory (FCT) for
screening and confirmation.
The service-wide extant
regulation authored by the
Federal Character Commission stipulates that an
officer is prohibited from
claiming the state of origin
of his/her spouse for the
purpose of any appointment in Nigeria’s public
service.
In the petition to the Senate President, the
petitioner, Mr. Adam Umar
Bako, who is the most
senior career officer from
Kogi State at the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, urged the
upper legislative chamber
to reject the nomination of
Mrs. Ocheni, which was
described as a “flagrant
breach of laid down rules
and regulations in Nigeria’s
civil service.”
According to the petition, Mrs. Ocheni violated
a circular of the Federal
Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
which directed all officers laying claim to their
spouse’s state of origin to
revert to their indigenous
state on the strength of the Federal Character Circular
dated March 1, 2011.
“This rule she (Mrs.
Ocheni) has infracted
upon and indeed has
gone to arrange a local
government indigeneship
certificate in response
to the ministry’s circular
Ref No: 2/AS.285/S.139
dated February 13, 2020,
that demanded all officers
claiming their husbands’
state of origin to revert to
their indigenous state,” the
petition disclosed.
The petitioner lamented
the “grave injustice” being
done to him by presenting Mrs. Ocheni’s name in
place of his, having put in
about 30 years of meritorious service to the country’s
foreign service, compared
to Mrs. Ocheni who only
joined the Foreign Affairs
Ministry less than 10 years
ago.
In the petition, which
was copied to the chairman,
Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, the petitioner
sought the restoration of
his right as the most senior
officer from Kogi State in
the service, adding that
“leaving her nomination to
proceed to confirmation on
the basis of misrepresentation of facts, among other
illegalities, will occasion
a grave injustice to me,
kill morale and create bad
blood in the service.”