The Senate at its plenary session of Tuesday, 23 February 2021 confirmed the nomination of the recently retired Chief of Defence Staff and Service Chiefs for appointment as Non-Career Ambassadors Designate pursuant to section 171(4) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) which provides that:

“An appointment to the Office of an Ambassador, High Commissioner or other Principal Representatives of Nigeria abroad shall not have effect unless the appointment is confirmed by the Senate”

Presenting the report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, on the screening of the 5 retired Service Chiefs namely, General Abayomi G. Olonisakin (Rtd.) (Ekiti); Lt. General Tukur Y. Buratai (Rtd.) (Borno); Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete E. Ibas (Rtd.) (Cross River); Air Marshal Sadique Baba Abubakar (Rtd). (Bauchi); and Air Vice Marshal Muhammad S. Usman (Rtd.) (Kano), the Chairman of the Committee, Sen. Adamu Bulkachuwa (APC: Bauchi) noted that the screening exercise of the aforementioned nominees held on Thursday, 18 February 2021.

Sen. Bulkachuwa in his submission, informed lawmakers that prior to the screening exercise, the Committee on Foreign Affairs had received two petitions requesting that the Senate reject the nominees. The petitions were considered and dismissed for lack of substantive evidence. Other documents considered by the Committee include the Police Report on Fingerprint Search, Clearance documents by the Department of State Services (DSS), the Code of Conduct Acknowledgement Slip and requisite academic qualifications.

According to the Charmian, the Committee had also posed several questions to the nominees, and the responses received indicated great understanding and skills required for the designated role. Following conclusion of the screening exercise, the Committee expressed satisfaction with the qualification, conduct, character, experience and general performance of the nominees, noting that they possessed in-depth knowledge on international military diplomacy.

It would be recalled that the President of the Senate, Sen. Ahmad Lawan (APC: Yobe) at the plenary session of Wednesday, 10 February 2021, had informed lawmakers that President Muhammadu Buhari through a letter, had requested that the Senate do consider and approve the nominees for appointment as Non-Career Ambassadors Designate.