President Bola Tinubu has nominated 32 additional ambassadorial nominees to the Senate for confirmation.
The nominations, announced by presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga, include prominent political figures, former government officials, and career diplomats.
Among the non-career nominees are the immediate past Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmud Yakubu; former presidential aide Reno Omokri; former Ekiti First Lady Erelu Angela Adebayo; former Enugu governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi; and Barrister Ogbonnaya Kalu from Abia State.
Also nominated are former Speaker of the Katsina House of Assembly, Tasiu Musa Maigari; former Plateau commissioner Yakubu N. Gambo; and former Deputy Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).
Other nominees include former Plateau senator Professor Nora Ladi Daduut; former Lagos deputy governor Otunba Femi Pedro; former aviation minister Chief Femi Fani-Kayode; and Barrister Nkechi Linda Ufochukwu from Anambra.
The list also features former Oyo First Lady Fatima Florence Ajimobi; former Lagos commissioner Lola Akande; former Adamawa senator Grace Bent; former Abia governor Victor Okezie Ikpeazu; Ondo senator and businessman Jimoh Ibrahim; and former envoy to the Holy See, Ambassador Paul Oga Adikwu.
The career ambassador-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), and Mopelola Adeola-Ibrahim (Ogun).
Others named 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).
Onanuga said the nominees, upon confirmation by the Senate, would be posted to countries with which Nigeria maintains bilateral relations, including China, India, South Korea, Canada, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, South Africa, and Kenya, as well as to permanent missions at the United Nations, UNESCO, and the African Union.
Tinubu had earlier nominated Ayodele Oke as new ambassador for the United States, Retired Colonel Lateef Kayode Are for the United Kingdom, and Ambassador Amin Mohammed Dalhatu for France.
Dalhatu previously served as Nigeria’s ambassador to South Korea during the late former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, while Oke is a former Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and previously served as Nigeria’s ambassador to the Secretariat of the Commonwealth of Nations in London.
Are was Director General of the State Security Service (SSS) from 1999 to 2007, served as National Security Adviser in 2010, and was an officer in the Directorate of Military Intelligence.