The senator representing Borno South, Ali Ndume, has picked holes in the three separate lists of ambassador nominees forwarded by President Bola Tinubu to the Senate for approval.
Ndume, in a reaction on Saturday, said the lists, which contained 68 names of career and non career nominees had 34 names on each side, breached federal character principles.
The senator argued that the allocation of nominees across states and geopolitical zones fell short of the constitutional requirement for fair representation in the composition of the Federal Government.
He urged the President to withdraw the lists, warning that approving the lists could deepen ethnic suspicion at a time when the administration should be consolidating national unity.
According to him, there were disparities in the spread of nominees, noting that while some states have three or four slots, others have none.
He observed that one of the nominees, Senator Adamu Garba Talba, who the President picked from Yobe State, had died in July.
“The entire North-East has seven nominees on the lists. Further checks revealed that the South-West geo-political zone has 15 nominees, while North-West and South-East have 13 and nine respectively.
“North-Central region has 10 nominees in the list of career and non-career ambassadorial nominees while the South-South parades 12 nominees,” Ndume noted.
He warned that such imbalances could heighten tensions and undermine Section 14(3) of the Constitution.
“My sincere appeal to President Tinubu is to withdraw the lists. At this critical juncture in his administration, he should avoid missteps that could undermine national unity and foster ethnic distrust.
“I know him to be a cosmopolitan leader who is at home with every segment and stakeholder in the country. He should withdraw that list and present a fresh set of nominees that will align with the spirit of the Constitution on the federal character principle,” Ndume added.
NEWSNGR has earlier reported that three of the nominees, Ayodele Oke (Oyo), Aminu Dalhatu (Jigawa) and Kayode Are (Ogun) had already been screened and cleared by the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs.
However, the three nominees whose names were the first to be forwarded to the Senate by President Tinubu, are still awaiting final confirmation by the Senate.
The inclusion of certain individuals on the lists of nominees have continued to generate controversy among the general public.
Some of the controversial figures include the former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu; a former presidential aide, Reno Omokri; a a former Rivers State Sole Administrator, Ibok-Ete Ibas among others.
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