PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has sent a list of ambassadors containing three names to the Senate.

The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced this in a letter from the president at the Senate plenary on Wednesday, November 26.

The non-career nominees are Kayode Are (Ogun), Aminu Dalhatu Jigawa) and Ayodele Oke.

Akpabio said the president would subsequently send more names. He said the president’s action was in consonance with Section 171 (1), (2)(c) and (4) of the 1999 constitution (as amended).

Since Tinubu recalled all ambassadors appointed his predecessor, the late President Muhammadu Buhari, on September 2, 2023, he has yet to replace them.

The president has come under heavy criticisms in recent weeks after the United States President Donald Trump designated Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern” over alleged Christian killings.

Trump repeatedly made his claim of Christian genocide in Nigeria and threatened to deploy his country’s military to Nigeria to fight terrorists.

The decision caused disaffections across Nigeria’s heterogeneous groups, as many citizens believe faithful from both Christian and Islamic faiths have been victims of terrorism in the West Africa’s most populous nation.

Trump lambasted Nigeria for days and called it a ‘disgrace’, and there was no senior government representative from Nigeria in the United States to mediate on the crisis.

As Trump’s threats escalated and terrorists unleashed more mayhems on Nigerian schoolchildren and worships by abducting and killing them, relationship between the two nations appeared more strained until the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, led top government functionaries to the US to articulate Nigeria’s position on the issue.

Marcus FATUNMOLE

Marcus bears the light, and he beams it everywhere. He's a good governance and decent society advocate. He's The ICIR Reporter of the Year 2022 and has been the organisation's News Editor since September 2023. Contact him via email @ mfatunmole@icirnigeria.org