Some Nigerians have questioned the calibre of some of the names on the 32-man list President Bola Tinubu announced as ambassadorial nominees on Saturday.

Former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmud Yakubu, ex-presidential aide, Reno Omokri and former aviation minister Femi Fani-Kayode are among the non-career nominees on the list.

Also appointed were former Abia governor Okezie Ikpeazu and Senator Jimoh Ibrahim.

Yakubu chaired INEC from 2015 to 2025 and supervised the 2023 election that produced Tinubu as president.

Omokri was a vocal critic of Tinubu before later becoming his supporter. According to the former presidential aide, he initially opposed Tinubu over doubts about his academic credentials and alleged links to drug-related activities.

He told News Central in March that he had campaigned and protested against Tinubu abroad based on the drug-related allegation before changing his stance.

Omokri said a trip to Chicago State University in 2022 had convinced him that Tinubu did attend and graduate from the institution, hence his decision to withdraw his earlier attacks. He also cited the Supreme Court’s clarification on the U.S. drug case and the appointment of his ally Nuhu Ribadu as National Security Adviser as reasons he stopped criticising Tinubu and began supporting his administration.

Omokri switched from backing the 2023 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to supporting Tinubu after the 2023 election cycle.

Meanwhile, Lagos-based rights activist and lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, has described the nominations as a ‘travesty’.

According to Effiong, the list proves that Nigeria rewards sycophants, criminality and misdeeds.

Broadcast journalist Rufai Oseni (@ruffydfire) said the list is a reflection of everything wrong with Nigeria.

Some Nigerians, however, commended the president’s choices.

Below are some of the reactions on X:

@InibeheEffiong wrote, “President Tinubu’s Ambassadorial list has reinforced the painful fact that we live in a country that constantly rewards criminality and misdeeds.

“Those who have contributed to Nigeria’s destruction are largely the ones nominated to be the image and voice of our country abroad.

“It is a travesty. The quality of a country’s ambassador is an indication of the country’s direction.

“Most of the names on President Tinubu’s list are career politicians who have failed to deliver in their previous roles, sycophants, and morally challenged individuals.

“I find it particularly upsetting, that the same discredited Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, who supervised a highly disputed and rigged election in 2023, has now been rewarded with an ambassadorial position.

“No country on earth has prospered through a shambolic, corrupt and discredited leadership recruitment process.”

@ruffydfire said, “Nigerians waited for years to get Ambassador, then it becomes obvious it’s political patronage and all job for the men and women

“Nigeria who did this to us! Just look at the Ambassadorial and you will see all that is wrong with our country

“The same man that couldn’t tell us what caused the technical glitch in the last elections is rewarded with an Ambassador. People that abuse political opponents are also rewarded. Which way, Nigeria!

@SolomonAbokor: “Tinubu truly continued from where Buhari stopped. It took Buhari 6months to announce a corruption-ridden ministerial list.

“Now, it took Tinubu 2years and 6months to send another corruption-ridden ambassador list to senate. APC will kill Nigeria.”

@papi_demillie: “@ruffydfire When you become president, pick yours. As for now Tinubu has picked his.

“Non-Ambassadorship has always being about politics. So stop the rhetoric

“In fact, in the West, if you want to make someone politically irrelevant. Nominate him/her as an ambassador to a far country.”

@engr_shaibu_: “This is an insult to every Nigerian struggling today. Tinubu has just nominated Reno Omokri as an ambassador. The same Reno Omokri who spent years calling Tinubu a “drug lord,” who said he belongs in prison, not Aso Rock. The same man who paraded Chicago State University documents and swore Tinubu was unfit to lead. That Reno. Today, the accuser becomes the ambassador. Hypocrisy has a new poster boy.

“This is the final proof that principle means nothing in this administration; only loyalty after the election.

@Samzonal: “Tinubu rewards cronies; Reno Omokri, and Femi Fani-Kayode, alongside Wike’s gang Okezie Ikpeazu and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi as ambassadors.

“In what never came to many as a surprise, Bola Tinubu has continued to exhibit a reward system solely based on fanaticism and loyalty to himself and not to Nigeria.”

@macburnertunes: “Tinubu is busy appointing retired old politicians as ambassadors to other nations.

“Nothing will change, if we keep rotating old people in our political circle.”

@Nwafresh: “Reno and FFK as ambassadors. Even Ikpeazu that finished Abia State and then Yakubu… You can never see people with integrity around Tinubu. He just surround himself with people like him…”

@dangbanamanager: “If you need proof that the 2023 election was, in my view, brazenly rigged, just look at this: Tinubu went on to appoint Mahmoud Yakubu the very man who chaired INEC as a non-career ambassador. That move speaks louder than any result sheet.”

@bodecassius: “This new list of ambassadorial nominees is another strategic step by Pres Tinubu to strengthen Nigeria’s representation across the world. I congratulate the administration and all the nominees. We hope their appointments will further enhance Nigeria’s global standing and open”

@UgofelixA: “So FFK has been finally rewarded for the bags of insults he throws on President Trump and Netanyahu. How did President Tinubu think its wise to make loquacious individuals ambassador? People with no integrity.”

@raylex04: “Nigeria is already gone, Tinubu is just here to bury the rest. What a shame. I’m in shock seeing the names on the Ambassadorial lists. So if person like Dino Melaye loyal to Tinubu, Tinubu for give am Ambassador?”

@justiceojienoh: “From a purely political standpoint I generally don’t have an issue with the nomination of Reno Omokri and FFK as Ambassadors. They worked hard (probably sold their souls) to get it. I have a real challenge with Mahmoud Yakubu’s darling treatment. 1st a National Honour then this!”

The Non-career ambassador-designates:

Barrister Ogbonnaya Kalu — Abia
Reno Omokri (a former presidential aide) — Delta
Mahmud Yakubu (former INEC chairman) — Bauchi
Erelu Angela Adebayo (former Ekiti First Lady) — Ekiti
Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (former Enugu governor) — Enugu
Tasiu Musa Maigari (former Katsina Assembly speaker) — Katsina.
Yakubu N. Gambo (a former Plateau Commissioner and former UBEC deputy executive secretary) — Plateau.
Professor Nora Ladi Daduut (a former senator) — Plateau.
Otunba Femi Pedro (former deputy governor) — Lagos.
Chief Femi Fani-Kayode (a former aviation minister) — Osun State.
Barrister Nkechi Linda Ufochukwu — Anambra State.
Fatima Florence Ajimobi (former Oyo First Lady) — Oyo State.
Lola Akande (former Commissioner) — Lagos
Grace Bent (former Senator) — Adamawa.
Victor Okezie Ikpeazu (former governor) — Abia.
Senator Jimoh Ibrahim — Ondo State.
Ambassador Paul Oga Adikwu (former ambassador of Nigeria to the Holy See) — Benue State.