Ahead of the selection and confirmation by the Senate of the ambassadorial candidates sent to the Red Chamber by the Presidency, former Senate leader Ali Ndume has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to withdraw the list from parliament.
The federal legislator declared that the composition of the candidates clearly violated the principle of Federal Character, enshrined in the Constitution.
Checks revealed that while some states have three and four candidates, states like Gombe have no representation, while Yobe’s only candidate, Senator Adamu Garba Talba, died last July.
The entire northeastern state has 7 nominees on the list.
Further checks revealed that the southwest geopolitical zone has 15 candidates, while the northwest and southeast have 13 and 9, respectively.
The North Central region has 10 nominees on the list of career and non-career ambassador nominees, while the South South region has 12 nominees.
The Senate President formally read the list of nominees at Thursday’s plenary session and forwarded it to the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee for further legislative action.
The senator representing Borno South, in a statement issued on Saturday, maintained that the list of nominees clearly violated 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.
The article reads: “The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in a manner that reflects the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there will be no predominance of people from a few States or from a few ethnic groups or other sectional groups in that Government or any of its agencies.”
The former Senate President admonished President Tinubu to avoid making decisions that would fuel ethnic tension and promote mistrust in the country, amid the misguided narrative being promoted by the Western world against his administration.
He said: “My sincere appeal to President Tinubu is to withdraw this list. At this critical juncture of his administration, he must avoid missteps that could jeopardize national unity and promote ethnic distrust.
“I know him to be a cosmopolitan leader who is comfortable with all segments and stakeholders of the country.
“He should withdraw that list and present a new set of nominees who align with the spirit of the Constitution on the principle of federal character that the structure and operations of government should represent the various states and peoples of Nigeria.”
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