Senators refuse to ratify list of ambassadors until Buhari includes missing states

PLANS by President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint 47 new high commissioners and ambassadors has suffered a major setback after senators vowed not to commence screening his candidates because of certain anomalies in the process.

 

Earlier this month, President Buhari sent a list of 47 career diplomats to the senate for screening and in line with constitutional requirements, they had to get approval from senators before taking up their positions. However, senators have not to screen any of the candidates because certain states like Bayelsa, Ondo and Ebonyi do not have any nominees.

 

Yesterday, the senate summoned the secretary to the government of the federation (SGF) David Babachir Lawal, and the minister of foreign affairs Geoffery Onyeama, to appear before  it to explain the discrepancies. Already, the three states have complained about not having candidates on the list, so the government officials are to appear before the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs today to explain why.

 

Senator Joshua Dariye of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) representing Plateau Central, said: “We should direct that the minister for foreign affairs, and the SGF appear before the committee on foreign affairs to explain the omissions and irregularities and the processes by which some of these names came about.”

 

During discussions yesterday, senators expressed dissatisfaction with the ambassadorial nominees’ list. Senator Sunny Ogbuoji, also of the PDP, representing Ebonyi South, complained that his state was not represented in the list.

 

He added: “I wish to continue with the motion raised by Dariye on the ambassadors. I want to observe that Ebonyi State is not represented in that list, even though we have career diplomats and a couple of them have been calling to find out why they were not recognised."

 

Senator Foster Ogola of Bayelsa West, said it was unfair for a state which produces 30% of oil in the country to be schemed out of the list. He added that the list should be returned to the president until all states were reflected.

 

"The federal government is putting undue pressure on people like me because they see us as people that are not doing their work. If we are talking on federalism and federal character, we should not see how the president would submit names when some states are not there, so nothing should be done on this list until all the states are reflected,” Senator Ogola added.

 

Senator Shehu Sani, the vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, said the committee had received many complaints about the list, questioning its credibility. He, however, suggested that the senate screen the nominees already sent in, while waiting for a second list or wait for both lists to be out before embarking on the screening.