Barring any last-minute hitch, President Bola Tinubu may announce the names of the ambassadorial nominees this week, Sunday Tele-graph can report.
This is coming as some of the nominees were sum-moned to Abuja Friday night for a briefing by the President.
This is coming 20 months after President Tinubu re-called the ambassadors he inherited in office when he took the reins of govern-ment in 2023. Since then, Nigeria has been without substantive ambassadors and high commissioners.
Before now, President Bola Tinubu has come un-der intense pressure to re-lease the list of his ambas-sadorial nominees.
From the list, which is said to be ready, Sunday Telegraph gathered that ‘it is politically heavy,” that is, non-career (political) ambassadorial nominees outstrip career ambassa-dors, which accounts for approximately 30 per cent, “especially for diplomatic postings,” one of our sourc-es said. Sources privy to the names on the list told the Sunday Telegraph that two former governors of Lagos State made the list.
In compiling the list, this newspaper gathered that the President’s allies, such as the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio; Speaker of the House of Representa-tives, Tajudeen Abbas; Sec-retary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume; National Chairman of the All Pro-gressives Congress (APC), Dr Umar Ganduje; Chair-man, Progressives Gover-nors Forum, and Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodim-ma’s nominees, were on the list.
However, the name of a former governor in the South West, who until recently was on the list, has been dropped, due to what the president’s han-dlers said was hobnob-bing with the members of the coalition against the President.
Advancing the reason behind the delay, another Source said that the Presi-dent was being meticulous in compiling the list. “The president will also try to ensure some balance in the major ones, such as the US, Canada, Britain, and France. Close allies of the president would come from the North and the South. They are going to be very close allies of the President. Allies are not necessarily his friends, but those whom he can lean on, no matter what,” he said.
Some of the president’s aides, such as the SGF, the Chief of Staff, a number of people are backing them, asking that the list be re-leased. “They are under in-tense pressure. Some have also gone through the First Lady. It will not be out of place to say that some of the women, who will be on the list again, courtesy of the first lady.
“Nobody knows how many times or list the president has made it, but we know that it is coming late. It is coming late in the sense that since 2023, when the President recalled those who were there, there has not been a replacement. Things are being run by career Counselors. They call them Career Officers. They said that he would do it once.”
He added: “It is because of the political power con-sideration going on, the President wants to be very careful. It is getting too late, and it is also not good for the image of Nigeria. We do not have substantive ambassadors in very key diplomatic outposts. It is also affecting some of our international relations en-deavours, and we are told that in the next one week, the list should be out.”
Reacting to the high num-ber of non-career diplo-mats, a diplomat, who did not want his name in print, said it goes to show Nigeria does not treat its foreign af-fairs as priority, forgetting that it is vital in attracting FDI, promoting cultural diplomacy and protecting national interest.
“The huge number of non-career diplomats is bad for the country, since it will destroy the morale of the diplomats, and rob the country of the best hands, most of whom are close to retirement. It is a reflection of Nigerian politicians’ en-titlement mentality. Once their party wins, they want to be Ministers, and if they don’t get that, they eye diplomatic service, Di-rectors-General, Executive Directors, commissioners or board members. Un-fortunately, the upcoming politicians have developed the same mindset. Which is very bad for our nation,” he said.
