The Senate resolved on Wednesday that it would proceed with the screening and confirmation of the 47 ambassadorial nominees sent to it by President Muhammadu Buhari.
This followed the adoption of the report of the Foreign Affairs Committee, which investigated allegation of lopsidedness in the nomination.
The Senate had last month asked the Committee to investigate allegations of irregularities and breach of federal character in the constitution by the President in making the nomination.
But the upper chamber, in adopting the report of the committee, asked the President to hasten the submission of non-career ambassadors to balance the nomination.
Presenting the report before the Senate, Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Shehu Sani, informed the Senate that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, told the committee that the President breached no rules in the nomination, adding that nobody from the four states of Bayelsa, Ondo, Plateau and Ebonyi where petitions had come from met the criteria for selection.
“The nominees were carefully selected on the basis of federal character, seniority, gender consideration, minimum of 30 months of service before retirement and competence”
“The submission from the SGF admitted that officers of Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Ondo and Plateau were not featured in the list because they did not meet the criteria for appointment,” Sani stated.
With this development, the coast is finally clear for the screening of the ambassadorial nominees.
