President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has submitted a list of three ambassadorial nominees to the Senate for legislative confirmation, marking the first set of such appointments since he assumed office in 2023.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio announced the transmission of the nominees’ list during Wednesday’s plenary session, which was broadcast live on the National Assembly’s YouTube channel. He noted that the President was expected to forward additional names in due course.
According to the letter read on the floor of the Senate, the nominees include Retired Colonel Lateef Kayode Are from Ogun State, Ambassador Aminu Mohammed Dalhatu from Jigawa State, and Ambassador Ayodele Oke. All three are non-career diplomats selected to represent Nigeria in key global capitals.
Their postings, which are to the United States, the United Kingdom, and France, will be formalised after Senate screening and confirmation.
Ambassador Aminu Mohammed Dalhatu previously served as Nigeria’s envoy to South Korea under former President Muhammadu Buhari, following his appointment in 2016.
Ambassador Ayodele Oke, a graduate of Emory University in Atlanta and a former Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), once represented Nigeria at the Secretariat of the Commonwealth of Nations in London.
Retired Colonel Lateef Kayode Are, a distinguished security professional, led the State Security Service (SSS) from 1999 to 2007, later served as National Security Adviser in 2010, and held various roles in the Directorate of Military Intelligence. He holds a First-Class degree in Psychology from the University of Ibadan.
The submission ends months of pressure on the administration over the delay in appointing ambassadors, a gap that had drawn criticism from diplomatic and policy circles.
