• Ugwuanyi, Ikpeazu, Pedro, Bent also make 32-man envoy list
• Tinubu sends 32 ambassadorial nominees to Senate for confirmation
• Four women among career nominees, six are non-career picks
President Bola Tinubu yesterday forwarded a fresh list of 32 ambassadorial nominees to the Senate for confirmation, 72 hours after the submission to the Red Chambers of three names as ambassadors designate.
President Tinubu in two separate letters to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, sought “expeditious consideration and confirmation” of 15 career ambassadors and 17 non-career ambassadors.
The nominees are a mix of technocrats, former public officials, career diplomats and political appointees, according to a statement issued by Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
Ten women are on the lists with four of them being career diplomats.
Among the non-career nominees are former presidential aide Reno Omokri (Delta); former INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu; former Ekiti First Lady, Erelu Angela Adebayo; former Enugu State Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Barrister Ogbonnaya Kalu from Abia.
Others include former Katsina House of Assembly Speaker Tasiu Musa Maigari; former Plateau Commissioner and former UBEC deputy executive secretary, Yakubu N. Gambo; former Senator Nora Ladi Daduut (Plateau); former Lagos Deputy Governor, Otunba Femi Pedro; former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode (Osun); and Barrister Nkechi Linda Ufochukwu (Anambra).
Also nominated are former Oyo First Lady, Fatima Florence Ajimobi; ex-Lagos Commissioner Lola Akande; former Adamawa Senator Grace Bent; former Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu; Ondo Senator Jimoh Ibrahim; and former Nigerian Ambassador to the Holy See, Paul Oga Adikwu (Benue).
The 15 career ambassador and high commissioner-designates include Enebechi Monica Okwuchukwu (Abia); Yakubu Nyaku Danladi (Taraba); Miamuna Ibrahim Besto (Adamawa); Musa Musa Abubakar (Kebbi); Syndoph Paebi Endoni (Bayelsa); Chima Geoffrey Lioma David (Ebonyi); and Mopelola Adeola-Ibrahim (Ogun).
Others are Abimbola Samuel Reuben (Ondo); Yvonne Ehinosen Odumah (Edo); Hamza Mohammed Salau (Niger); Ambassador Shehu Barde (Katsina); Ambassador Ahmed Mohammed Monguno (Borno); Ambassador Muhammad Saidu Dahiru (Kaduna); Ambassador Olatunji Ahmed Sulu Gambari (Kwara); and Ambassador Wahab Adekola Akande (Osun).
The statement said the nominees will be posted to countries with which Nigeria maintains “excellent and strategic bilateral relations,” including China, India, South Korea, Canada, Mexico, the UAE, Qatar, South Africa and Kenya, as well as permanent missions to the United Nations, UNESCO and the African Union.
Specific postings will be announced after Senate confirmation.
The president had on Wednesday forwarded the names of Ambassador Ayodele Oke (Oyo), Ambassador Amin Mohammed Dalhatu (Jigawa) and retired Col. Lateef Kayode Are (Ogun) to the Senate for confirmation as ambassadors to the United Kingdom, the United States or France upon confirmation.
Mahmood Yakubu, 63, is a Professor of Political History and International Studies and an expert in Guerrilla Warfare, Terrorism and Counter terrorism.
He was INEC Chairman between 2015 and 2025.
He attended Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto and University of Oxford, and Wolfson College both in the UK.
Author, columnist, adventure traveller, and social media influencer, Reno Bemigho Omokri, was born on January 22, 1974. He was a Vice President of Joe Trippi and Associates, a U.S. political consulting firm. He also served as an aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan.
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Erelu Angela Adebayo is a former first lady of Ekiti State.
She obtained a B.Sc (Hons) Social Science from the University of Ibadan, an MBA from the University of Lagos, and an MPhil (Cantab) in Land Economy from Cambridge University.
She was also the first female chairman of the Board of WEMABOD Estates and had served on the boards of the Aliko Dangote Foundation, Meyer Paints Plc and Women at Risk International Foundation.
She is the Founder of Erelu Adebayo Foundation and Erelu Adebayo Children’s Home.
Lawrence Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, 61, served as governor of Enugu State from 2015 to 2023.
Before then, he was a member of the House of Representatives from Igboeze North/Udenu federal constituency between 2003 and 2015.
He is a graduate of the Enugu State University of Science and Technology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN)
Alhaji Tasi’u Musa Maigari from Fuyuni in Zango Local Government Area of Katsina State was born on April 25, 1966.
He attended Sardauna Memorial College (SMC) Kaduna from 1978-1983 and later Kaduna Polytechnic 1985-1988 where he bagged a National Diploma.
Nora Ladi Daduut, a professor of French, represented Plateau South in the Senate from 2020 to 2023.
Otunba Olufemi Pedro, 70, is an economist banker and politician who served as deputy governor of Lagos State from 2003 to 2007.
Pedro was chairman of the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) from 2018 to 2022, and was the founding chairman of the Lagos State Sports Trust Fund.
Chief Oluwafemi Fani-Kayode, 65, is a politician, author and lawyer.
He was Special Assistant on Public Affairs to President Olusegun Obasanjo from July 2003 to June 2006. He was Minister of Culture and Tourism from 22 June to 7 November 2006, and later the Minister of Aviation from 7 November 2006 to 29 May 2007.
Okezie Ikpeazu, the immediate past governor of Abia State, is 61 years old.
He was governor for two terms from 2015 to 2023 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He is a product of the Universities of Maiduguri and Calabar.
Dr. Jimoh Ibrahim, who currently represents Ondo South in the Senate, is a business mogul with interest in oil & gas distribution, hotels, resorts, airlines, banking, real estate, insurance, and publishing.
He is 58 years old.
He studied law at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, and obtained Master of Public Administration (MPA) from the same institution.
He also attended Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, graduating with a combined Master of Laws (LLM) and Master’s In International Taxation degree.