The Ambassadorial list forwarded to the Senate has generated a stir as the House has summoned the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal and the Foreign Affairs Minister, Geofrey Onyeama to answer the discovered discrepancies in the list.
The senate alleged that some states were excluded from the list of 47 career diplomats sent to the red chambers while some other states had up to three nomination. Also, the senate discovered some names on the list were picked ahead of some senior colleagues.
The chief whip of House, Olusola Adeyeye explained: “The two of them are in fact, already on Level 17 and in making the recommendations many who are junior to them in experience and in status have been elevated above them. They therefore want some intervention from the chamber to be sure that correct process is followed.
“They also said that there are those who have served the republic meritoriously who did not get passed because of whatever might be the internal politics of the ministry.
“So, I plead that relevant committee and this chamber would take a second look at this prayer. We should direct that the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and the SGF to appear before the Committee on Foreign Affairs to explain the omissions and irregularities and the processes by which some of these names came about”.
The Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki while ruling on the alleged discrepancies found in the list said: “I have received a lot of petitions in my office on this same matter. We must ensure that the process is transparent especially since they are going to be ambassadors and the number of petitions we have received this time is a bit more than usual.
“It is important that the foreign affairs committee quickly invite the minister and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation so that they can explain the processes of how some of these names came about.
“We need to do this before they even begin to consider the nomination for screening”.
The Senate President further referred the case to the foreign affairs committee adding that the committee had one week to come up with a report.