…advises Tinubu to scout for credible, experienced diplomats to represent Nigeria.
President of the Association of Foreign Relations Professionals in Nigeria (AFRPN), Ambassador Gani Lawal, has lampooned President Bola Tinubu over the list of ambassadorial nominees he sent to the National Assembly, insisting that the calibre of persons on the list is so low that about fifty percent of them would be rejected by the countries where they would be posted.
Lawal who spoke exclusively to Saturday Telegraph, said many of those who made the list were not the fit and proper persons to represent Nigeria in foreign lands at a critical time when the country is under the searchlight of the international community following the allegations of genocide against Christians and the redesignation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) by the United States.
“Many of these ambassadorial nominees are going to get local objections from the countries they will be posted to because they have their hands soiled and they have their records. So a majority of them will be rejected through local objection. A majority of them won’t get accreditation in the host countries.
“I am hundred percent sure that fifty per cent of those nominees will attract local objection and they will not be accredited in the countries of their posting. I know because I’ve been in the system and I know the way it works.
“Now, this is how it works: if you want to post an Ambassador to another country, you will first of all send their names to that country. Once there is a local objection, they will not accept that nominee and you will have to send another person,” he said.
Lawal, a former Deputy Principal Representative of Nigeria in Algeria, expressed disappointment that many of those on the list have had their hands soiled and ought to be either facing prosecution should be cooling their feet in the prison yard.
He berated the President for playing politics with the ambassadorial appointments when he ought to have chosen the best to represent Nigeria at this critical period when the country is under intense international pressure. “President Tinubu should have been very careful about the persons he wants to represent Nigeria in any country.
Nigeria is at the precipice and what has been happening in the last one month should have been a lesson to him. But unfortunately, he is still playing politics. It means he doesn’t care about the image or reputation of the country.
“Now is the time to choose the real people – people who already have international recognition and who are respected worldwide. I’m talking about people that you know that they are diplomats and are stellar.
Tinubu needs to look for such people, give them the task and keep them for at least two years,” he said. At this time when Nigeria is under international searchlight, Lawal argued, Tinubu should have chosen the country ‘s first eleven to represent her abroad.
“I’m talking about credible individuals who are not interested in money but in salvaging the name of the country. You need credible and experienced diplomats no matter how old they may be. Some of them may be retired but they know the nooks and crannies of international relations.
I’m talking about the likes of Prof Ibrahim Gambari, Prof Bolaji Akinyemi and some other newly retired ambassadors who know what it takes to represent a country. These are the kind of people we need as ambassadors so that they can go and correct all the wrong impressions that people have about us in the international community.
“The task now is how Nigeria can regain international respect, not a time for political patronage. If after two years, everything stabilises, then you can continue with your politics. But now that we are facing this kind of searchlight…. we’re being gaslighted by the international community, we can’t afford to play politics with ambassorial appointments,” he said.
The seasoned diplomat warned that the controversy trailing the ambassadorial appointments, could become the abaltrros of the Tinubu administration if not well handled and the mistakes corrected. “I don’t even know why he has chosen to play politics with everything.
There are certain things that you should not play politics with because it is delicate. If he is not careful, this matter will consume him. I’m saying that this ambassadorial appointment issue will consume the President himself if he is not careful.
He is going to shoot himself in the foot with these appointments because he has failed to appoint the real people who can help him to remove the stain on the country,” Lawal said. According to the diplomat, the redesignation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern could have been averted if Tinubu had appointed ambassadors as soon as he took office, particularly if he had chosen seasoned diplomats and posted them to key capitals of the world.
Lawal said it was unfortunate that the President did not do it when he should and is now choosing every Tom , Dick and Harry including people with shady past to be the face of Nigeria in the international community. Keshi’s earlier remarks Earlier, a former permanent secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Joe Keshi, faulted the ambassadorial list while questioning the character of some of the nominees.
Keshi, who spoke in an interview on Channels Television’s Morning Brief programme, said: “I’m comfortable with some names on the list, but the truth of the matter is that the bulk of the people on the non-career list is a bit disturbing.
Are these the kind of people we want to represent Nigeria? “You have people who, if justice had prevailed and if this country had been run properly, and the rules and the rules of the game are obeyed, actually should be cooling their heels in the walls of the prison and not being sent out as ambassadors. “You have people who have governed their states.
They were absolute failures. They showed no leadership when they led their states, and the governors who took over from them are struggling to repair the damage they’ve done to their states. “Those are the kind of people being rewarded, either because they have helped you to destroy other political parties, and the rest of it.’’
Keshi, however, said he believed there was a conspiracy against a former Director General of the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, Ayo Oke, which led to his removal as the head of the agency.
Keshi, who noted that Nigeria needed to send its best hands as ambassadors, said: Look, as far back as the 1960s, when the diplomatic service was established, those who established the diplomatic service, particularly the prime minister, were very clear in their minds about the kind of diplomatic service they wanted for Nigeria.
“He wanted a very competent foreign service. He wanted an independent foreign service. He wanted officers of the foreign service to be well-trained, to be able to compete favourably with their peers all over the world. “The first generation of those recruited into the foreign service, and for a long time, met the criteria until the politicians came and started what they are doing today.’’
Keshi appealed to President Tinubu to include officials of the ministry in his next list, saying, “The second point I made was to appeal to the President. I hear there’s another list to come out; I don’t know if it’s true.
“I beg the President, for goodness’ sake, for the sake of the officers and the ministry of foreign affairs today, to please ensure that the next list contains no other names but the people from the ministry of foreign affairs. “These officers are demoralised.
Look, tomorrow somebody will accuse them of being unpatriotic, but the truth of the matter is that they are disappointed after being prepared. “They’ve gone through training, preparing themselves, and where they are supposed to be appointed, you’re now saying they are not qualified to represent the country.
