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From Adesuwa Tsan, Abuja
The Senate, yesterday, confirmed 64 nominees for appointment as career and non-career ambassadors of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, clearing the bulk of names forwarded by President Bola Tinubu.
The confirmation followed the consideration and adoption of the report of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, presented at plenary by the committee’s chairman, Abubakar Sani Bello.
Presenting the report, Bello said the committee had screened the nominees and found them suitable for appointment, stressing that their nominations complied with relevant provisions of the law and extant guidelines governing diplomatic postings.
According to him, the exercise resulted in the confirmation of 34 nominees as career ambassadors and 30 others as non-career ambassadors.
Those confirmed as career ambassadors include Amb. Nwaobiala Ezenwa Chukwuemeka (Abia), Betso Maimunah Ibrahim (Adamawa), Monica Okwuchukwu Enebechi (Anambra), Amb. Mohammed Mahmud Lele (Bauchi), Amb. Ahmed Mohammed Monguno (Borno), Amb. Adams Jane Bassey (Cross River), Amb. Sulu-Gambari Olatunji Ahmed (Kwara) and Amb. Ramat Mohammed Omobolanle (Lagos). Others are Amb. Adeyemi Adebayo Emmanuel (Ekiti), Amb. Okechukwu Kingsley Onaga (Enugu), Amb. Abdussalam Habu Zayyad (Kano), Amb. Shehu Ilu Barde (Katsina), Amb. Haidara Mohammed Idris (Kebbi), Amb. Bako Adamu Umar (Kogi), Amb. Shaga John Shamah (Nasarawa), Amb. Ibrahim Danlami (Niger), Reuben Abimbola Samuel (Ondo), Amb. Akande Wahab Adekola (Osun), Amb. Luther Ogbomode Ayo-Kalata (Rivers), Danladi Yakubu Nyaku (Taraba) and Bello Dogon-Daji Haliru (Sokoto).
The Senate also confirmed a number of prominent political figures and technocrats as non-career ambassadors. They include former Senate Minority Leader, Ita S.J. Enang (Akwa Ibom); former Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Victor Ikpeazu; former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Alhaji Mahmud Yakubu; former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ette Ibas (rtd); former Minister of Defence, Lt. Gen. Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau (rtd) and former Ondo lawmaker, Senator Jimoh F. Ibrahim.
Also confirmed were Chief Olufemi Fani-Kayode, Prof. Isaac F. Adewole, Mr. Reno Omokri, Chief Olufemi Pedro, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Mrs. Ajimobi Fatima Florence, Senator Grace Bent, Senator Nora Ladi Daduut, Dr. Yakubu N. Gambo and several others drawn from across the six geopolitical zones.
Of the 65 ambassadors-designate transmitted to the Senate by President Tinubu, only the nominee representing Yobe State, Adamu Garba Talba Nangree, was not confirmed.
Nangree was absent from the screening conducted by the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs last week. Senator Bello had remarked that he was already in communication with the nominee and that he would be screened in his office at a later date.
Following the adoption of the committee’s report, Senate President Godswill Akpabio formally declared the nominees confirmed and urged them to serve Nigeria diligently while projecting the country’s image positively in their respective postings.
