By Louis Achi
Former state governors as well as ex-ministers and other officials, who served in the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, and the political associates of President Bola Tinubu have launched intense lobbying for appointment as Nigerian ambassadors to foreign countries.
TheNewDiplomat gathered that chieftains of the ruling All Progressives Congress, National Assembly members and retired military officers were among those jostling for ambassadorial nominations.
Nigeria has a total of 109 missions, 76 embassies, 22 high commissions and 11 consulates abroad.
The intense lobby for ambassadorial appointments commenced after the federal government recalled all the envoys from their posts on September 2, 2023, directing them to return to the country by October 31.
It could be recalled that in January 2021, former President Buhari approved the posting of 95 envoys, comprising 43 career and 52 non-career ambassadors, to man the nation’s diplomatic missions.
Before the approval, the Senate had ratified their nominations in 2020.
The diplomats were deployed after they were confirmed by the Senate in accordance with Section 171(2) (1c) and subsection 4 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
But the envoys were recalled by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on September 2, 2023.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, confirmed the development following reports that Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Ambassador Sarafa Isola, had been recalled.
But while clarifying the directive, Tuggar said the action was not a witch-hunt and that it applied to all career and non-career envoys.
The minister, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Alkassim Abdulkadir, had said, “Sequel to the enquiries on the letter recalling the Nigerian High Commissioner to the UK, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, has reaffirmed that all career ambassadors and non-career ambassadors have been recalled on the instructions of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”
The Presidency later clarified that all the country’s United Nations permanent representatives in New York and Geneva were exempted from the recall.
A statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, said the exemption was a result of the UN General Assembly, which was held between September 18 and 22.
TheNewDiplomat gathered that the jostle for the vacant diplomatic posts escalated with politicians and other interested individuals bombarding the President and his Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, with requests for nomination.
Sources disclosed that those who failed to secure ministerial nominations were at the forefront of the rush for the ambassadorial positions.
Some of these lobbyists include past administrators, politicians, retired military men, unsuccessful governorship aspirants, and those who served as heads of agencies under Buhari, among others.
