President Bola Tinubu has nominated 32 individuals including former Enugu State governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi; immediate past INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu; former minister Femi Fani-Kayode; and ex-presidential aide Reno Omokri for appointment as ambassadors.
Also on the list are former Abia State governor Okezie Ikpeazu and former Lagos deputy governor Femi Pedro. Ondo Senator and businessman Jimoh Ibrahim; former Ekiti First Lady Erelu Angela Adebayo; and former Adamawa Senator Grace Bent were similarly nominated.
Tinubu has forwarded all names to the Senate for confirmation.
“In two separate letters to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, President Tinubu asked the Senate to consider and confirm expeditiously 15 nominees as career ambassadors and 17 nominees as non-career ambassadors,” presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga said in a statement issued on Saturday.
A breakdown of the nominations shows that four women are on the career ambassadors list and six on the non-career list.
Other non-career nominees include Ogbonnaya Kalu (Abia); former Speaker of the Katsina House of Assembly, Tasiu Musa Maigari; former Plateau State Commissioner and ex-deputy executive secretary of UBEC, Yakubu N. Gambo; former Plateau Senator Nora Ladi Daduut; Nkechi Linda Ufochukwu (Anambra); former Oyo First Lady Fatima Florence Ajimobi; former Lagos Commissioner Lola Akande; and former Nigerian ambassador to the Holy See, Paul Oga Adikwu (Benue).
The career ambassador and high commissioner–designate list includes 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), and Mopelola Adeola-Ibrahim (Ogun).
Others are Abimbola Samuel Reuben (Ondo), Yvonne Ehinosen Odumah (Edo), Hamza Mohammed Salau (Niger), Ambassador Shehu Barde (Katsina), Ambassador Ahmed Mohammed Monguno (Borno), Ambassador Muhammad Saidu Dahiru (Kaduna), Ambassador Olatunji Ahmed Sulu Gambari (Kwara), and Ambassador Wahab Adekola Akande (Osun).
According to Onanuga, the nominees are expected to be deployed to countries with which Nigeria maintains key strategic and bilateral relations—such as China, India, South Korea, Canada, Mexico, the UAE, Qatar, South Africa, and Kenya—as well as to multilateral missions including the United Nations, UNESCO, and the African Union. Their specific postings will be determined after Senate confirmation.
This latest batch of nominees comes just days after Tinubu sent an initial set of three names for screening: Ambassador Ayodele Oke (Oyo), Ambassador Amin Mohammed Dalhatu (Jigawa), and retired Colonel Lateef Kayode Are (Ogun).
“All three are in the pot for posting to the UK, USA, or France after their confirmation,” the Presidency added.
