Forty-five out of the 47 on the list of non-career ambassadorial nominees forwarded by President Muhammadu Buhari to the Seanate for screening were yesterday confirmed. The upper legislative chamber rejected two and gave their reasons.
The confirmation followed the adoption of the report of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs which recomended the nominees for appointments in its report.
Rejected were 82-year-old Justice Sylvanus Nsofor (Imo State) and Jacob Daodu (Ondo State).
Chairman of the screening panel, Senator Monsurat Sunmonu, who presented the report, said Nsofor was rejected owing to his frail looks and temperamental disposition.
She added that the octogenarian also declined to recite the National Anthem when asked by the committee to do so during the screening.
Mrs. Sunmonu said Daodu was rejected based on security report from the Department of State Services (DSS) which described him as “deceitful and corrupt” while in public office.
He was once the chairman of the Ondo State Agency for Road Maintenance and Construction, as well as Commissioner for Physical & Urban Planning.
Those confirmed were Uzoma Emenike (Abia); Aminu Iyawa (Adamawa); Godwin Umor (rtd) (Akwa Ibom); Christopher Okere (Anambra); Yusuf Tuggar (Bauchi); Baba Madugu (Bauchi); Stanley Diriyai (Bayelsa); Steven Ugba (Benue); and Baba Jidda (Borno).
Others are: Etubom Asuquo (Cross River); Frank Efeduma (Delta); Jonah Odo (Ebonyi); Uyagwe Igbe (Edo); Dr. Eniola Ajayi (Ekiti); Chris Eze (Enugu); Suleiman Hassan (Gombe); Aminu Dalhatu (Jigawa); Ahmed Bamali (Kaduna); Deborah Iliya (Kaduna); and Dandatti Abdulkadir (Kano); Haruna Ungogo (Kano); Isa Dodo (Katsina); Mohammadu Barade (Katsina); Tijjani Bande (Kebbi); Y. O. Aliu (Kogi); Nurudeen Mohammed (Kwara); Mohammed Yisa (Kwara); George Oguntade (Lagos); and Modupe Irele (Lagos).
They include: Musa Muhammad (Nasarawa); Ahmed Ibeto (Niger); Suzanne Folarin (Ogun); Afolahan Adeyemi (Osun); Ashimiyu Olaniyi (Oyo); James Dimka (Plateau); Haruna Abdullahi (Plateau); Orji Ngofa (Rivers); Sahabi Gada (Sokoto); Kabiru Umar (Sokoto); Hassan Ardo (Taraba); Goni Bura (Yobe); Garba Gajam (Zamfara); Bala Mairiga (Zamfara); and Ibrahim Ugbada (FCT).
Senate President Bukola Saraki urged the ambassadors-designate to be of good conduct in their countries of sojourn.
Saraki also enjoined the Federal Government to pay up all outstanding salaries and allowances being owed foreign missions to enable them deliver on their mandate.