Exclusive: Rumblings over career ambassadorial  list   Newsdiaryonline Tue Dec 20,2011

President Jonathan

The recent nomination of ambassadors by the presidency is causing some disquiet within official circles. Newsdiaryonline sources said issues bordering on justice, fairness and equity are being raised in the face of evident lopsidedness and crass favouritism displayed in the recent appointment of ambassadors especially among career diplomats. What has even become more worrisome is the fact that this development which is fast becoming a trend is said to be affecting the morale of top  level officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who are now wondering what they have done wrong to deserve the shoving aside with disdain by those who compiled the final list of nominees.

Foreign affairs sources revealed that after the final list  the last nominations became public this month, insiders were  baffled over the way and manner names of senior diplomats who ought to be nominated were dropped .What has become more worrisome is the fact junior officials were nominated over and above their seniors much to the dismay of all. “See the case of Gombe state where a senior official who ought to be named among the new ambassadors was dropped and a junior official was chosen instead. This is most unfair. We really want to know what was the rationale for this choice’’

A senior diplomat from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also lamented when he says that “it is also true of Anambra State, where an officer was posted to serve in the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) only to use that position to supersede his senior colleagues in the service. Is this the transformation that the Federal Government is preaching?"

President Goodluck Jonathan recently forwarded the names of 88 nominees to the Senate for confirmation as ambassadors. A letter read on the floor of the Senate, the President said 32 of the nominees would be appointed as non-career ambassadors, while the remaining 56 are career ambassadors.

Among the non-career nominees, who are mostly politicians, are former Foreign Affairs Minister, Chief Ojo Madueke (Abia), immediate past deputy governor of Oyo State, Taofik Arapaja, and widow of the late Ikemba of Nnewi, Mrs. Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, said to have been nominated under what the president’s letter calls “Special Category.”

Though  five states, Anambra, Ebonyi, Imo, Katsina, and Ondo, have two nominees each, 10 states namely  Bauchi, Delta, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi, Kwara, Ogun, Niger and Rivers, had  none.

Among those  on the non-career diplomats’ list include  Hon. James Shuaib Barka (Adamawa), Chief Asam Asam (Akwa Ibom), Okwudili Nwosu and Dr. Francis Okeke (Anambra), Mr. Eric Aworabhi (Bayelsa), Mr. Chive Kaave (Benue), Mr. Dauda Danladi (Borno), Mrs. Katherine Okon (Cross River), Hon. Nwofe Alexander and Mr. Mathias Okafor (Ebonyi).Also included on the list  are Mrs. Sifawu Ini-Umaru Momoh (Edo), Princess Victoria Onipede (Ekiti), Mrs Fidelia Njeze (Enugu), Senator Haruna Garba (Gombe), Nonye Rajis-Okpara and Chief Eddy Onuoha (Imo), Alhaji Adamu Babangida Ibram and Alhaji Tukur Mani (Katsina), Mr. Biodun Nathaniel Olorunfemi (Kogi), and Engr. Olatokunbo Kamson (Lagos).  Also nominated are Dr. Sam Jimba (Nasarawa), Cornelius Oluwateru and Col. Roland Omowa, rtd. (Ondo), Mr. Akinyemi Farounbi (Osun), Mrs. Matilda Kwashi (Plateau), Senator Abdallah Wali (Sokoto), Senator Lawan Gana Guba (Yobe), Hon. Abubakar Shehu Bunu (Zamfara) and Mrs. Esther John Audu (FCT).

Reports said  the career ambassadorial nominees  drawn from 35 states and the FCT were  senior civil servants in the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs. While Adamawa State has three nominees, 19 states have two slots each, 15 have one each. Only  Ebonyi State had  no slot.

In the particular case of Gombe State which is said to be an example of the shoddiness in the handling of such , “a level 17 officer was dropped from the list to pave way for one who is next to him. This is said to be the second time such is happening, ”said an obviously disillusioned colleague of the affected officer.

There are quiet rumblings because  these  chaps are civil servants and they cannot  speak out, a source said adding that the question  now is "why are senior career officials being trampled upon? Seniority is quite clear from the point of entry into the service and in the seniority list maintained by the Ministry" an insider claimed.

This is the document referred to in the Witness

Statement on Oath of Clifford O. Kokogh

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