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There has hardly been any major policy pronouncement or action by the President Bola Tinubu administration that has not been trailed with confusion and controversies. From his ill-digested fuel subsidy removal and floatation of the national currency without any fallback option on his first day in office, through the belated appointment of ministers that turned out an assemblage of failed politicians, to the recent amnesty granted to drug barons, murderers and other shades of criminals, virtually all the activities of the President have been dotted with question marks. For a man who was elaborately advertised as a master strategist and astute head-hunter before coming to office, his consistent flipflops have only shown that he must have been overrated.
You will, therefore, not blame Nigerians for raising issues with some of the 32 ambassadorial nominees the President forwarded to the Senate for confirmation. For one, the list was long in coming – more than two-and-half years after his inauguration. When it eventually came, it was a dampener; an anti-climax. Rather than comprising men and women of honour and proven integrity, the list was heavily tainted with clowns fit for the theatre and palace jesting but certainly not for the high office of ambassador or high commissioner.
In simple definition, an ambassador is a representative of his country’s government in a foreign country or at an international organization. He promotes friendly relations, negotiates with foreign governments, and projects his nation’s interests, policies, and viewpoints. An ambassador protects nationals of his home country, promotes trade and cultural exchange with the receiving state, and reports on political and economic developments in the host country. He is a sovereign of sort; hence, he is accorded the full rights and privileges of a President or head of state. The representative aspect of the assignment is the main function of an ambassador. The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (VCDR) of 1961, an international treaty that defines a framework for diplomatic relations between independent countries, states these roles succinctly.
In our International Law and Diplomacy Class at the University of Jos, we were taught that an ambassador or high commissioner is a reflection of the person or thinking of the appointing President or head of government. That is why it is easy to determine the character and philosophy of a President by the class and caliber of individuals he sends to other countries to represent him. Could that be what is playing out in the crowd of the good, bad and ugly that President Tinubu has cobbled together as those that would act as his eyes and ears in other countries? Could it also be a case of show me your friends and I will tell you who you are? Perhaps, only Tinubu knows the answer. But a look at some of the nominees, speaks to the understanding or lack of it that the President places on that critical aspect of international relations.
Take Professor Mahmood Yakubu, former national chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), for instance. Going by academic attainments, he looks good for the offer. With a first-class degree in History from the University of Sokoto (now Usmanu Danfodiyo University), a master’s degree in international relations, from Wolfson College, Cambridge and doctorate degree in Nigerian history from the University of Oxford, Yakubu looks good on paper. But that is where it ends. Any other thing is a cocktail of perfidy and deceit. The February 25, 2023 presidential election which he supervised, stands out as the most fraudulent and manipulated election in the history of Nigeria. It was an outing that saw the hopes by Nigerians for enthroning enduring democratic culture dashed. Before the election date, Yakubu had pranced about beating his chest that the days of rigging in Nigeria’s electoral process were over. He had particularly flaunted the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV), as safeguards against manipulation. But on the fateful day, it became glaring that he was not prepared to keep to the promises. Rather, Yakubu and his team in INEC showed that they were accomplices in compromising the poll. Obviously disappointed Nigerians, especially the youths, have since that odious outing, vowed never to participate in subsequent polls in the country. Is it a man that exhibited such level of betrayal on a national assignment that is now being packaged for export to the outside world as face of Nigeria? Even if, as it is known that he worked from the answers for Tinubu and therefore expected to be rewarded, are there no other ways of doing so, rather than further exposing the country to ridicule before civilised communities?
There is also the former Minister for Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, who thrives on nothing other than ethnic recriminations and shameless bigotry. As a minister, his records in office were not particularly fascinating. Aside from engagement in juvenile tantrums, open display of sycophancy to the authorities and trademark fluidity in moving between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC), to satiate his axiomatic stomach infrastructure, nothing of substance can really be attributed to him. Fani-Kayode is pettiness personified. And then, of course, the putrid Reno Omokri, a premium-grade social media pimp, lacking in precise principles but readily available to the highest bidder for odd jobs! At a time, he made it a task to expose Tinubu to the world as a drug lord. He is now in bed with same Tinubu, advertising him as the best thing to have happened to Nigeria. Is he also among the best that the President could find to hoist Nigeria’s flag on his car abroad?
There are other fleeting characters that are lined up for Senate’s approval and subsequent dispatch of their credentials to anticipated host countries. How would Tinubu and his government package and present these entertainers to receiving countries and expect them to accord Nigeria deserving respect? Is this all in it about the hyped Tinubu’s Midas touch and identification of talents?
The truth is that there must be limits to politicking and political patronage. Ambassadorial postings are never jobs for the boys and girls. They are not assignments for wife-beaters, loose cannons or elements on the fringes of lunacy. It is a calling for sane and serious minds. Every government is judged by the character of its head and quality of his representatives abroad. Nigeria is presently on its fours on account of bad governance at home and sullied reputation overseas. The crowd of jesters in the ambassadorial list will worsen the situation.
Tinubu will not be doing the country any good by further exporting its inadequacies to other nations through deployment of men and women of low repute that ordinarily cannot command attention in typical village assembly, as ambassadors and high commissioners. Nigeria will continue to lose by that. The National Assembly, if it still has any modicum of worth and sense of duty, should take a serious look at the ambassadorial nominees and take out those unworthy of the job.
