Buhari to re-submit edited ambassadorial list to Senate soon – Presidency

Olalekan Adetayo, Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari will soon send a “reworked” list of non-career ambassadorial nominees to the Senate for confirmation, The PUNCH has learnt.

The Senate had last week rejected the 46 non-career ambassadorial nominees earlier sent to it by Buhari for approval.

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

Our correspondent learnt on Sunday that a fresh list would be prepared and sent to the Senate.

The fresh list, it was further learnt, would have the contribution of state governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress who complained that they did not have input into the selection of those who featured on the rejected list.

A government source however said some of the 46 names might still make the new list to be sent for approval if nothing serious was found against them.

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, confirmed to our correspondent on Sunday that the list of the ambassadorial nominees would be worked on and sent to the Senate soon.

Adesina was however not specific on when the list would be ready for transmission to the Senate.

“The (non-career ambassadorial nominees) list will be worked on, and communicated to the Senate as soon as possible,” the presidential spokesman simply said.

The APC governors had met Buhari to protest about the inclusion of some nominees shortly after the rejected list was made public,

The President was said to have asked them to put their observation in writing which was done on their behalf by the Chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum, Rochas Okorocha.

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) and 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).

Tallen and Bugaje had rejected their nominations, citing failure to duly consult them.

Source: Punch