Ahead of Senate screening and confirmation of the ambassadorial nominees sent to the Red Chamber by President Bola Tinubu, Senator Ali Ndume (Borno South), has appealed to the President to withdraw the list from the Senate.
Ndume in a statement issued in Abuja on Saturday, declared that the composition of nominees was in clear breach of the Federal Character principle, as enshrined in the Constitution.
According to him, checks revealed that while certain states have three and four nominees, states like Gombe have no representation while the only nominee from Yobe, Senator Adamu Garba Talba, died last July.
The entire North-east state has seven nominees in the list.
He added that further checks revealed that the south-west geo- political zone has 15 nominees while North West and South East have 13 and 9, respectively.
North Central region has 10 nominees in the list of career and non-career ambassadorial nominees while south south parades 12 nominees.
The Senate President at plenary on Thursday formally read the list of nominees and referred it to the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs for further legislative action.
Ndume in the statement, maintained that the list of nominees was in clear breach of 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 section 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 such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few State or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies.”
He admonished President Tinubu to avoid taking decision that will fuel ethnic tension and promote distrust in the country, amidst the wrong narrative being promoted by the Western world against his administration.
“My sincere appeal to President Tinubu is to withdraw this list. At this critical time in the life of his administration, he should avoid missteps that could endanger national unity and promote ethnic distrust.
“I know him to be a cosmopolitan leader who is at home with every segment and stakeholders in the country.
“He should withdraw that list and present a fresh set of nominees that will align with the spirit of the Constitution on the Federal Character Principle that the government’s structure and operations must represent the diverse states and peoples of Nigeria,” he said.
