Why I joined ambassadorial screening regardless of federal character considerations – Ndume

A former Senate Chief, Ali Ndume, has defined why he participated within the Senate screening of ambassadorial nominees regardless of elevating considerations over an alleged breach of Part 14(3) of the 1999 Structure (as amended).

Ndume, who represents Borno South within the Nationwide Meeting, had in a press release final week urged President Bola Tinubu to withdraw the listing of nominees, citing what he described as a violation of the federal character precept within the composition of the listing.

He highlighted disparities within the distribution of nominees, noting that whereas some states have three or 4 slots, others have none.

“He (Tinubu) ought to withdraw that listing and current a contemporary set of nominees that may align with the spirit of the Structure on the Federal Character Precept,” Ndume had stated.

Chatting with journalists in Abuja on Sunday, as reported by Vanguard, the senator defined that his considerations had been rooted within the “federal character of Nigeria” to advertise nationwide unity and loyalty.

Nevertheless, Ndume revealed that members of the Senate Committee on International Affairs persuaded him to take part within the screening, with the understanding that his observations could be formally communicated to the President by means of the committee’s report.

“I nonetheless preserve that the listing is lopsided. On the committee stage, I raised a constitutional order on the assembly, and we agreed that we might proceed with the screening, however in our report, we’ll inform the President that the composition of the remaining listing ought to be balanced to deal with our considerations in regards to the breach of the federal character ideas as enshrined in our Structure,” Ndume stated.

He added that Nigeria’s 109 diplomatic missions may accommodate extra equitable illustration throughout states, significantly in non-career ambassadorial appointments.

“We have now 109 missions. For the non-career ambassadors, every state ought to have one to stability it as a result of states like Gombe and Yobe weren’t captured, whereas some states have solely profession ambassadors, that are roughly non-political ambassadors,” he stated.

“Every state ought to have two or three ambassadors, and every state ought to have at the least one profession ambassador since we now have 109 embassies, which include 76 embassies, 22 excessive commissions, and 11 consulates.

“This may accommodate three ambassadors per state, each non-career and profession. That may handle the problem of lopsidedness and the breach of Part 14(3) of the Structure. Don’t neglect that we now have 194 nations on the planet.”

The Senate final week screened and confirmed 68 ambassadorial nominees.

These confirmed embrace former Chairman of the Impartial Nationwide Electoral Fee, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu; former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode; former presidential aide, Reno Omokri; and former Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau.