The Senate has rejected the 46 non-career
ambassadorial nominees sent to it by
President Muhammadu Buhari for approval.

The lawmakers, who said the list would be
returned to Buhari “for re-submission and
re-jigging,” added that they rejected the
nominees because of over 250 petitions
against them.

Some notable names on the 46 non-career
nominees’ list rejected by the Senate are
retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice
George Oguntade; a former Deputy Governor
of Plateau State, Mrs. Paulen Tallen; a
former member of the House of
Representatives, Usman Bugaje; and a
former Deputy Governor of Niger State,
Ahmed Ibeto.

Others include Dr. Uzoma Ememke (Abia
State), Dr. Clifford Zirra (Adamawa), Maj.
Gen. Godwin Umo (retd.) (Akwa Ibom),
Christopher Okeke (Anambra), Yusuf Tugar
(Bauchi), Baba Madugu (Bauchi), Brig. Gen.
Stanley Diriyai (Bayelsa), Dr. Enyantu Ifenne
(Benue), Mohammed Hayatuddeen (Borno)
and Dr. Etubom Asuquo (Cross River).

Also on the list are Francis Efeduma (Delta),
Jonah Odo (Ebonyi), Uyagwe Igbe (Edo),
Ayodele Ayodeji (Ekiti), Maj. Gen. Chris Eze
(retd.) (Enugu), Suleiman Hassan (Gombe),
Amin Dalhatu (Jigawa), Muhammad Yaro
(Kaduna), Deborah Iliya (Kaduna), Prof. D.
Abdulkadir (Kano), Haruna Ungogo (Kano),
Justice lsa Dodo (Katsina), Prof. Tijjani
Bande (Kebbi), Prof. Y. O. Aliu (Kogi),
Nuruddeen Mohamed (Kwara), Prof.
Mohamed Yisa (Kwara), Senator Olorunimbe
Mamora (Lagos), Modupe Irele (Lagos),
Musa Muhammad (Nasarawa), Ade Asekun
(Ogun), Sola Iji (Ondo), Adegboyega
Ogunwusi (Osun).

There are also Maj. Gen. Ashimiyu Olaniyi
(retd.) (Oyo), Dr. Haruna Abdullahi (Plateau),
Orji Ngofa (Rivers), Justice Sylvanus Nsofor
(Rivers), Jamila Ahmadu-Suka (Sokoto),
Kabiru Umar (Sokoto), Mustapha Jaji
(Taraba), Goni Bura (Yobe), Garba Gajam
(Zamfara) and Cpt. Abdullahi Garbasi (retd.)
(Zamfara).

State governors had protested against their
non-involvement in the selection of the non-
career ambassadorial nominees by Buhari.
Tallen and Bugaje had rejected their
nomination, citing failure to duly consult
them.

Imo State and the Federal Capital Territory,
which had representatives among the 47
career ambassadorial nominees, did not get
any nominee in the non-career batch.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign
Affairs, Senator Monsurat Sunmonu, while
presenting the report of the committee on
the screening of the 47 career ambassadorial
nominees earlier submitted by the President,
said much “uproar, noise and petitions” (sic)
had greeted the nomination of those on the
non-career list.

Sunmonu announced that her committee had
received over 250 petitions against the non-
career ambassadorial nominees.

“We have received over 250 petitions and we
found it difficult to conduct the screening (of
the nominees). We have resolved to send
the list of the 46 nominees back to the
executive for them to look at the issues
(with the nominations),” she said.

The Senate, however, confirmed the
nomination of the 47 career ambassadors on
merit.

The nominees confirmed are Obinna
Chukwuemeka (Abia), Salisu Umaru
(Adamawa), Inyan Udo-Iyang (Akwa Ibom),
Okeke Nwanaku (Anambra), Liman Munir
(Bauchi), Ndem Ada (Benue), Mohammed
Hassan (Borno), Martin Young Cobham
(Cross River), Janet Olisah (Delta) and
Itegboje Sunday (Edo).

Others are Olatunde Adesesan (Ekiti), Lilian
Onoh (Enugu), Manaja Isa (Gombe), Ngozi
Ukaeje (Imo), Bello Husseini (Jigawa), Enoch
Duchi (Kaduna), Garba Baba (Kano), Usman
Aliyu (Katsina), Umar Salisu (Kebbi), Momoh
Omeiza (Kogi) and Kadiri Audu (Kwara).

Also on the list are Balogun Hakeem (Lagos),
Inusa Ahmed (Nasarawa), Ibrahim Isah
(Niger), Bankole Adeoye (Ogun), Ibidapo-Obe
Oluwasegun (Osun), Ogundero Sakirat (Oyo),
Eric Bell-Gam (Rivers), Attahiru Halliru
(Sokoto), Rahmatu Dunama (Taraba), Musa
Mamman (Yobe) and Kabiru Bala (Zamfara).
Also confirmed are Adamu Shuaibu (FCT), D.
A. Agev (Benue), T. K. Gongulong (Borno),
Ibrahim Hamza (Katsina), K. C. Nwachukwu
(Imo), Q. I. Worlu (Edo), E. K. Oguntuase
(Ekiti), A. I. Paragalda (Adamawa), L. A.
Gasharga (Borno), Olufemi Abikoye (Kwara),
Habu Ibrahim (Gombe), Rabiu Akawu (Kano),
Nonye Udo (Anambra), Odeka Bisong (Cross
River) and Sonaike Abibat (Ogun).

While presenting the report, Sunmonu
confirmed that some of the nominees could
not recite the national anthem and the
national pledge during their screening, while
there were those who had less than the
mandatory 30 months before their
retirement.

She, however, urged the Senate to confirm
the appointment of the nominees, saying
that the committee had found them worthy of
being ambassadors of the country.

Criticising the report, Senator Peter
Nwabaoshi said the committee failed to state
the nominees who failed to recite the
national anthem and the pledge in the
report.

He said that it would be bad for an
ambassador, who is representing his or her
country, to be unable to recite the anthem or
pledge of the country.

The Minority Whip of the Senate, Senator
Bala ibn Na’Allah, however, said the
committee did a thorough job with the
screening of the nominees.

He noted that if all the requirements were to
be followed and the inadequacies of the
nominees taken into account, several states
would not be represented on the
ambassadorial list.

In his submission, Senator James Manager,
a member of the committee who noted that
he was present at the screening and actively
participated in the exercise, revealed that
some of the nominees were jittery when they
appeared before the lawmakers.

He recalled that a ministerial nominee once
collapsed in the chamber in 2004 when the
late Senator Uche Chukwumerije, fired five
“serious” questions at the nominee.

Manager said a nominee who had begun to
recite the anthem or pledge and there was a
“slight confusion” in the process, should be
pardoned.

Senator Godswill Akpabio, however, said it
was “disgraceful” if a career diplomat had
worked and represented his country for
close to 30 years without being able to recite
the country’s anthem and pledge fluently.

Buhari not a democrat, says PDP

The leadership of the All Progressives
Congress on Tuesday kept sealed lips over
the rejection of President Muhammadu
Buhari’s list of non-career ambassadors.
Attempts to get an official reaction from the
party were futile. Calls to the mobile number
of the party’s National Chairman, Chief John
Odigie-Oyegun, were neither picked nor
returned.

A response to a text message sent to him
on the subject was being awaited as of the
time of filing this report.

Similar calls to the party’s National
Secretary, Mai Buni, indicated that his
telephone was switched off. He also did not
respond to a text message sent to him.

Calls to the mobile telephone number of the
party’s Deputy National Chairman ((South),
Segun Oni, were also neither picked nor
returned.

A response to a text message sent to him
was also being expected as of the time of
filing this report.

The party’s Deputy National Publicity
Secretary, Mr. Timi Frank, did not pick his
calls neither did he respond to a text
message on the subject as of 9:06pm.

The PDP, however, blamed Buhari for the
rejection of the list.

Spokesperson for the Senator Ahmed
Makarfi-led national caretaker committee of
the party, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, said that it
was obvious that the President had lost
control of the National Assembly, especially
the Senate.

He said the President did not know how to
play politics and was not schooled in the art
of consultation.

Adeyeye said, “The action was not surprising
to us as a party. It is obvious that the
President is not a democrat and he is
always doing things in a shoddy manner.
Look at the way he presented the loan, the
budget and others issues before the Senate.

“This is a President whose party is in
control of the two chambers of the National
Assembly, yet, he doesn’t know how to
consult the leadership.

“The President does not know how to
consult and speak with the members of his
party. Here is a President that does things in
a shoddy manner without diligence.

“The rejection did not come as a surprise to
us. Rather, Nigerians should brace for more
embarrassing moments and actions from the
President who was not prepared to govern.”


punchng.com/apc-keeps-mum-senate-rejects-buharis-46-nominees/

Useless government.

*Yawns* just running around in circles.