Buhari sends 46 career ambassadorial nominees to Senate (Updated)

President Muhammadu Buhari has forwarded a fresh list of 46 ambassadorial nominees to the Senate for confirmation.

This is the second list of career nominees Buhari is sending to the Senate since he was sworn-in May last year.

Read also: Hilarious! Buhari’s ambassadorial nominee can’t recite national anthem

President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki who read the names on the floor at the beginning of the day’s plenary, did not however refer the names to the Senate committee on Foreign Affairs.

Buhari had in June, 2016, sent a list of 47 career ambassadorial nominees to the Senate for confirmation. The omission of some states generated controversies and lawmakers whose states were left out protested vehemently.

According to a copy ‎of the list obtained by Ripples Nigeria, a former Senator and a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) from Lagos state, Olorunimbe Mamora made the list.

A former deputy governor of Plateau state, ‎PauIine Tallen was on the list too. Lagos, Kano, Bauchi, Kaduna, Kwara and Katsina, among others, got the lion’s share, while Imo and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) ‎were missing from the list.

Others who made the list are Mrs Uzoma E. Emenike (Abia), Dr. Clifford Zirra (Adamawa), Maj. Gen. Godwin G. Umo (Rtd)  (Akwa Ibom), Christopher J.N. Okeke (Anambra), Yusuf Tugar (Bauchi), Baba Madugu (Bauchi), Brig. Gen. Stanley Diriyai (Bayelsa) and Dr. Enyantu Ifenne ‎(Benue).

Mohammed Hayatuddeen (Borno), Dr. Etubom N.E Asuquo (Cross River), Francis Efeduma (Delta), Mr. Jonah M. Odo (Ebonyi), Uyagwe Igbe (Edo), Ayodele L. Ayodeji (Ekiti), Maj. Gen. Chris Eze (Enugu), Alhaji Suleiman Hassan (Gombe) and Amin Muhammad Dalhatu (Jigawa) were also on the list.

Other names on the list are Muhammad Yaro (Kaduna), Deborah S. Iliya (Kaduna), Professor D. Abdulkadir (Kano), Alhaji Haruna Ungogo (Kano), Justice Isa Dodo (Katsina), Dr. Usman Bugaje (Katsina)‎, Professor Tijjani Bande (Kebbi), Professor Y.O. Aliu (Kogi), Nuruddeen Mohamed (Kwara) and Professor Mohamed G. Yisa (Kwara).

Justice George Adesola Oguntade (Lagos), Mrs Modupe Irele (Lagos), Musa Ilu Muhammad (Nasarawa), Mohammed Ibeto (Niger), Mr. Ade Asekun (Ogun), Sola Iji (Ondo), Adegboyega A. Ogunwusi (Osun), Maj. Gen. Ashimiyu A. Olaniyi (Oyo), Haruna Bawa Abdullahi (Plateau), Orji Ngofa (Rivers), Justice Sylvanus Adeiwere Nsofor (Rivers), Jamila Ahmadu-Suka (Sokoto), Hon. Kabiru Umar (Sokoto), Alhaji Mustapha jaji (Taraba), Goni Modu Zanna Bura (Yobe), Alhaji Garba Gajam (Zamfara) and Abdullahi Uba Gardabi (Zamfara) were also named.

Senator representing FCT, Philip Aduda raised a Point of Order when the names were read, challenging President Muhammadu Buhari for not nominating a native of FCT as non-career Ambassador in the list.

 

Senator Aduda referred the Senate to Section 299 of the 1999 Constitution that states that FCT shall be treated as if it is one of the states in Nigeria and that the President is the Governor of the Territory with the executive ministers of the federation serving  as commissioners of the FCT while the National Assembly shall serve as the state House of Assembly for FCT.

Senate President Bukola Saraki noted the point of order by the FCT Senator and promised to communicate back to the executive for correction.

 

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