As the Senate begins screening President Bola Tinubu’s 65 ambassadorial nominees, at least five candidates are drawing intense scrutiny over past corruption probes, audit reports and inflammatory public statements, raising questions about their suitability to represent Nigeria abroad.
Opposition parties, civil society groups and critics accuse the President of using key diplomatic postings to reward loyalists and controversial figures, particularly faulting the inclusion of former INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu and several politically exposed nominees.
Among those flagged is ex National Intelligence Agency Director General Ayodele Oke, who was previously linked to the 2017 Ikoyi cash haul and faced money laundering charges over $43m, £27,800 and N23.8m recovered from a Lagos apartment, as well as a withdrawn EFCC case over $289m allegedly taken from NNPC accounts for “covert operations”.
Another is retired Vice Admiral Ibok Ete Ibas, former Sole Administrator of Rivers State, who is the subject of petitions to the ICPC and planned Rivers Assembly probes over alleged mismanagement of about N283bn in federal allocations during six months of emergency rule, allegations he insists lawmakers have no power to investigate.
Former Abia governor Okezie Ikpeazu is also on the list, despite a KPMG forensic audit commissioned by Governor Alex Otti alleging that N1.9tn was mismanaged through phantom projects, unexplained loans, missing internally generated revenue and payments without proper documentation, a report already forwarded to the EFCC.
Ex presidential aide Reno Omokri, once a fierce critic of Tinubu who publicly branded him a “drug lord” and vowed never to work with him, now faces a petition from former US mayor Mike Arnold urging the Senate to reject him as a “danger” who could embarrass Nigeria if appointed.
Former Aviation Minister Femi Fani Kayode, who repeatedly attacked Tinubu and the APC before defecting, is another nominee whose long record of incendiary comments and multi case EFCC prosecutions (from which he was eventually acquitted) has sparked debate over his fitness for a sensitive diplomatic role.
The Senate says it has not yet received formal petitions against any nominee but insists its Foreign Affairs Committee and the full chamber can reject candidates found unfit, while some lawmakers, including Senator Ali Ndume, ex envoys and CSOs have condemned perceived federal character breaches and the elevation of politically connected figures over career diplomats with clean records.
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