Ali Ndume, former senate leader, has explained why he participated in the screening of ambassadorial nominees despite earlier calling on President Bola Tinubu to withdraw the list over alleged breach of the federal character principle.
The lawmaker had, on the eve of the screening exercise,
urged Tinubu to withdraw the ambassadorial list, citing what he described as a
lopsided composition that violates section 14(3) of the 1999 constitution,
which mandates fairness and balance in federal appointments.
He had argued that the list failed to reflect the federal
character of Nigeria, warning that such an imbalance could undermine national
unity.
However, the Borno south senator joined his colleagues on
the senate committee on foreign affairs to screen nominees forwarded to the
upper chamber.
Addressing journalists on Sunday, Ndume said he was
persuaded by members of the committee not to boycott the screening and was
assured that the committee’s concerns would be formally communicated to the
president.
“I still maintain that the list is lopsided,” he said.
“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.”
The senator added that the leadership of the committee
assured him that its observations would be reflected in the final report
submitted to the president.
Ndume said states excluded from the current nominations
should be accommodated in subsequent submissions to the senate.
“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 is more or less
non-political ambassadors,” he said.
“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 and 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.”
Ndume said the senate would formally convey its observations
to Tinubu as part of the screening report, urging the president to address the
imbalance before the confirmation of the remaining nominees.
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