…Rejects Mamora, 44 other non-career ambassadors
The Senate on Tuesday confirmed the nomination of 47 career ambassador-nominees, forwarded to it by President Muhammadu Buhari, even as it rejected the list of 45 non-career ambassador the President sent to it.
Following the report of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, headed by Senator Monsurat Sunmonu, the upper legislative chamber of the National Assembly confirmed the nominees.
Sunmonu had informed the plenary that there were over 250 petitions against the confirmation of the career ambassadors, even as only four of them failed to recite the national anthem properly.
Buhari had in June forwarded the names of 47 career ambassadors to the Senate for confirmation.
Despite spirited efforts to scuttle the confirmation of the nominees, intervention from Senators James Manager and Gbenga Ashafa, saved the nominees, who include:
Obinna Chukwuemeka, Salisu Umoru, Iyang Udoh, Okeke Vivian, Liman Munir, Edem Jane, Mohammed Hassan, Martin Cobham, Janet Molegbo, Itegbuoye Sunday, Olatunde Adesesan and Lilian Onu.
Others are: Manaja Isa, Ngozi Ukeje, Bello Husseini, Enoch Ducci, Garba Baba, Usman Aliyu, Umar Salisu, Momoh Omeiza, Kadiri Audu, Balogun Hakeem, Nosa Ahmed, Ibrahim Isa, Bankole Adeoye and Ibidapo Obe.
Other nominees are: Ogundaro Sakirat, Eric Belgam, Ateru Haliru, Ramota Bulima, Musa Mamman, Kabiru Bala, Adamu Shuaibu, D. A. Agiv, T.K. Gonglong, Ibrahim Hamza, K.C. Nwachukwu and Q.R. Wolu.
Also confirmed were: E.K. Oguntuwase, A.I. Paragauda, L.A. Gasharga, Olufemi Abikoye, Abubakar Ibrahim, Rabiu Kawu, Janet Bisong and Adekunbi Habeebat.
Meanwhile, contrary to expectations, the Senate has declined the confirmation of 45 non-career diplomats sent to it by the President. Prominent among the list were former Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, Senator Olorunnibe Mamora and former justice of the Supreme Court, Justice George Oguntade.
The Senate said its refusal to confirm the nominees was based on the avalanche of petitions against the nominees.
Others in the list of rejected ambassadorial nominees include: former member of the House of Representatives, Usman Bugaje (Katsina); and former deputy governor of Niger State, Ahmed Ibeto (Niger), Dr. Uzoma Ememke (Abia), Dr. Clifford Zirra (Adamawa), Major-General Godwin Umo (rtd.) (Akwa Ibom), Christopher Okeke (Anambra), Yusuf Tugar and Baba Madugu (Bauchi), Brigadier-General Stanley Diriyai (Bayelsa), Dr. Enyantu Ifenne (Benue), Mohammed Hayatuddeen (Borno) and Dr. Etubom Asuquo (Cross River).
Also rejected by the Senate were: Francis Efeduma (Delta), Jonah Odo (Ebonyi), Uyagwe Igbe (Edo), Ayodele Ayodeji (Ekiti), Major-General Chris Eze (rtd.)(Enugu), Suleiman Hassan (Gombe), Amin Muhammad Dalhatu (Jigawa), Muhammad Yaro and Deborah Iliya (Kaduna), Prof. D. Abdulkadir and Haruna Ungogo (Kano), Justice lsa Dodo (Katsina), Prof. Tijjani Bande (Kebbi), Prof Y. O. Aliu (Kogi), Prof. Mohamed Yisa and Nuruddeen Mohamed (Kwara).
Others are Modupe Irele (Lagos), Musa Ilu Muhammad (Nasarawa), Ade Asekun (Ogun), Sola Iji (Ondo), Adegboyega Ogunwusi (Osun), Majajor-General Ashimiyu Olaniyi (rtd.) (Oyo), Dr. Haruna Bawa Abdullahi (Plateau), Orji Ngofa and Justice Sylvanus Adiewere Nsofor (Rivers), Jamila Ahmadu-Suka and Kabiru Umar (Sokoto), Mustapha Jaji (Taraba), Goni Modu Zanna Bura (Yobe), Garba Gajam and Cpt. Abdullahi Uba Garbasi (Zamfara).
One of the nominees, former deputy governor of Plateau State, Pauline Tallen, has earlier declined the President’s nomination on the ground that her loyalty is to her sick husband, who she said that she wants to devote to nursing.
The Senate said that the rejected list would be returned to President Buhari for resubmission and re-jigging.
