Borno Senator, Ali Ndume, has explained why he joined in screening Ambassadorial nominees despite raising concerns over breaches of provisions of Section 14 (3) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (As Amended).
The Senate cleared the nominees last week a few days after it received their names from President Bola Tinubu.
Ndume, a one-time Senate Leader, had asked President Tinubu to withdraw the list to address the constitutional breach he said he observed in the composition of the list of nominees sent for screening and confirmation.
The senator, who represents Borno South in the National Assembly, however told journalists in Abuja on Sunday, he had raised his concerns based on Section 14(3) of the Nigerian Constitution, which mandates that the composition and conduct of the federal government must reflect the “federal character of Nigeria” to ensure national unity and loyalty.
He explained that he changed his mind after his colleagues in the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs persuaded him to participate in the screening exercise with a commitment to communicate his observations to the President through the appropriate channel.
“I still maintain that the list is lopsided. At the Committee level, I raised a constitutional order at the committee meeting, and we agreed that we will continue with the screening, but in our report, we will tell the President that the composition of the remaining list should be balanced to address our concerns on breach of federal character principles as enshrined in our Constitution.”
“We have 109 missions. For the non-career ambassadors, each state should have one to balance it because states like Gombe and Yobe were not captured, while some states have only career ambassadors, which are more or less non-political ambassadors,” Ndume said.
He stressed that, “Each state should have two or three ambassadors, and each state should have at least one career ambassador since we have 109 embassies, which consist of 76 embassies, 22 high commissions and 11 consulates.
“This can accommodate three ambassadors per state, non-career and career. That will address the issue of lopsidedness and breach of section 14(3) of the Constitution. Don’t forget that we have 194 countries in the world.”
NewsNGR reports that the Senate screened and confirmed 68 Ambassadorial nominees for appointments including the immediate past National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, a former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, a former Presidential Aide, Reno Omokri and a former Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau.
Leave a Comment