President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has forwarded a second batch of 32 ambassadorial nominees to the Senate for confirmation, following the submission of an initial list of three nominees.
In two separate letters addressed to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, the President requested the swift consideration and confirmation of 15 career ambassadors and 17 non-career ambassadors.
The new submission includes four women among the career nominees and six women among the non-career nominees.
Prominent names on the non-career list include former Abia State governor Okezie Ikpeazu; Barrister Ogbonnaya Kalu (Abia); former presidential aide Reno Omokri (Delta); former INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu; former Ekiti First Lady, Erelu Angela Adebayo; and former Enugu State governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.
Also nominated are former Katsina House of Assembly Speaker Tasiu Musa Maigari; former Plateau Commissioner Yakubu N. Gambo; former UBEC Deputy Executive Secretary; former Plateau Senator Prof. Nora Ladi Daduut; former Lagos Deputy Governor Otunba Femi Pedro; former Aviation Minister Chief Femi Fani-Kayode; and Barrister Nkechi Linda Ufochukwu (Anambra).
Other notable nominees include former Oyo First Lady Fatima Florence Ajimobi; former Lagos Commissioner Lola Akande; former Adamawa senator Grace Bent; Senator Jimoh Ibrahim of Ondo State; and Ambassador Paul Oga Adikwu, former envoy to the Holy See.
The career ambassadorial nominees and high commissioner–designates include:
Enebechi Monica Okwuchukwu (Abia), Yakubu Nyaku Danladi (Taraba), Miamuna Ibrahim Besto (Adamawa), Musa Musa Abubakar (Kebbi), Syndoph Paebi Endoni (Bayelsa), Chima Geoffrey Lioma David (Ebonyi), Mopelola Adeola-Ibrahim (Ogun), Abimbola Samuel Reuben (Ondo), Yvonne Ehinosen Odumah (Edo), Hamza Mohammed Salau (Niger), Amb. Shehu Barde (Katsina), Amb. Ahmed Mohammed Monguno (Borno), Amb. Muhammad Saidu Dahiru (Kaduna), Amb. Olatunji Ahmed Sulu Gambari (Kwara), and Amb. Wahab Adekola Akande (Osun).
The nominees are expected to be deployed to countries with which Nigeria maintains strategic diplomatic relations, including China, India, South Korea, Canada, Mexico, the UAE, Qatar, South Africa, Kenya, as well as multilateral missions such as the United Nations, UNESCO, and the African Union. Their specific postings will be determined after Senate confirmation.
This comes a week after President Tinubu submitted three ambassadorial nominees—Amb. Ayodele Oke (Oyo), Amb. Amin Mohammed Dalhatu (Jigawa), and retired Col. Lateef Kayode Are (Ogun)—who are expected to be posted to the UK, USA, or France.
More ambassadorial nominations will be announced soon, according to the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
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