Barring any last-minute change of plan, the Senate will tomorrow begin the screening of the 46 non-career ambassadorial nominees forwarded to it by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The screening exercise, which will be conducted by the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, will take place at the Meeting Room 312 in the New Senate Building, starting at 9am.
LEADERSHIP recalls that the president had forwarded the letter nominating the ambassadorial candidates to the Senate on Wednesday, January 11, 2017. It was read on the floor of the Senate the next day by the Senate President Bukola Saraki, and the nominations were subsequently referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs.
LEADERSHIP also reports that the list of the nominees was a revised list and was re-submitted to the Senate barely two months after the first list was rejected on Tuesday, November 15, 2016, after the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs revealed that over 250 petitions had been submitted against some of the nominees.
On the revised list, the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and Imo State were accommodated; the nominee for Imo was previously mistaken for Rivers’.
While Kaduna and Katsina states were allotted more slots than the number of nominees they had on the previous list rejected by the Senate, Lagos and Jigawa states had their number of nominees reduced by one each.
Six nominees from Adamawa, Benue, Ekiti, Ondo, Osun and Ogun states were replaced with fresh nominees on the revised list, apparently due to the conflict of interests in the respective states, or the federal character factor as the case may be.
Those excluded are the former deputy director-general of the Buhari Campaign Organisation, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora (Lagos), and a brother to the Ooni of Ife, Prince Adegboyega Ogunwusi (Osun), who was replaced with Mr. Afolahan Adeyemi A., among others.
On the new list to be screened by the Senate Committee are a retired Justice of the Supreme Court, George Oguntade (Lagos), Yusuf Tuggar (Bauchi), James G. Dimka (Plateau) – who replaced Mrs Tallen, and the immediate past deputy governor of Niger State, Ahmed Ibeto, whose nomination as a minister was withdrawn by Buhari in 2015.
The list also contains a former director-general of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Jos, Prof. Tijjani Bande (Kebbi), and Dr (Mrs) Uzoma E. Emenike (Abia), while Dr Clifford Zirra (Adamawa) has been dropped for Aminu Iyawa.
Also on the list are retired Major General Godwin Umo (Akwa Ibom), Christopher J.N. Okeke (Anambra), Baba Madugu (Bauchi), and Brig. General Stanley Diriyai (Bayelsa).
Dr. Enyantu Ifene (Benue) did not make it back on the list as he was replaced with Prof. Steven Ugba; Baba Ahmed Jidda (Borno) replaced Mohammed Hayatudeen while Ayodele. L. Ayodeji (Ekiti) was replaced with Dr. Eniola Ajayi.
Also listed are Dr. Etuborn N. E. Asuquo (Cross River), Engr. Francis Efeduma (Delta), Mr Jonah Odo (Ebonyi), Uyagwe Igbe (Edo), Maj. Gen. Chris Eze (Enugu), Alhaji Suleiman Hassan (Gombe), Justice Sylvanus Adiewere Nsofor (Imo), Amin Muhammad Dalhatu (Jigawa), Mohammed Yaro (Jigawa), Deborah lliya (Kaduna) and an additional nominee for Kaduna, Ahmed Nuhu Bamalli, Prof. D. Abdulkadir (Kano), Alhaji Haruna Ungogo (Kano), Justice Isa Dodo (Katsina) and an additional nominee – Mohammadu Rimi Barade.
Barrister Sola Iji (Ondo) has been replaced with Jacob Igbekele Daodu; Mr. Ade Asekun (Ogun) was also dropped for Suzanne Aderonke Folarin; Musa Ilu Muhammad (Nasarawa); Mrs. Modupe Irele (Lagos); Prof. Mohammed G. Yisa (Kwara); Nuruddeen Mohammed (Kwara), and Prof. Y. O. Aliu (Kogi) made this list.
Others are retired Maj. Gen. Ashimiyu Olaniyi (Oyo), Dr Haruna Bawa Abdullahi (Plateau), Orji Ngofa (Rivers), Sahabi Isa Gada (Sokoto) – replaces Jamila Ahmadu-Suka, Hon. Kabir Umar (Sokoto), Alhaji Mustapha Jaji (Taraba) has also been dropped for Alhaji Hassan Jika Ardo, Goni Modu Zanna Bura (Yobe), Alhaji Garba Gajam (Zamfara); Cpt. Bala Mohammed Mairiga (Zamfara) replaces Cpt. Abdullahi Uba Garbasi while Habiss Ibrahim Ugbada is nominated from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
LEADERSHIP also reports that the Senate had earlier confirmed the first batch of 47 career ambassadorial nominees on Tuesday, November 15, 2015, sequel to the adoption of a report by its Committee on Foreign Affairs.