THE Senate has completed the screening of the three ambassadorial nominees forwarded to the upper chamber by President Bola Tinubu for confirmation.
They are Kayode Are (Ogun State), Aminu Dalhatu (Jigawa State), and Ayodele Oke (Oyo State).
The nominees, who appeared before the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs chaired by Senator Sani Bello (APC, Niger North), were screened by the panel.
The committee’s report is expected to be presented at plenary for consideration and possible confirmation in due course.
Speaking during the session, Senator Bello disclosed that Ayodele Oke had addressed and cleared all allegations previously raised against him.
President Tinubu, in a letter read by Senate President Godswill Akpabio during plenary last week, requested the confirmation of the three nominees.
Oke, an alumnus of Emory University in Atlanta, is a former Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and previously served as Nigeria’s ambassador to the Secretariat of the Commonwealth of Nations in London.
Dalhatu previously served as Nigeria’s ambassador to South Korea under the Late President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
Are was the director general of the State Security Service (SSS) from 1999 to 2007, served as National Security Adviser in 2010, and was an officer in the Directorate of Military Intelligence.
He also graduated with First Class honours in Psychology from the University of Ibadan in 1980.
Also, President Tinubu has forwarded to the Senate a request for the confirmation of 65 ambassadorial nominees, comprising 34 career ambassadors and 31 non-career ambassadors and high commissioners.
The letter conveying the request was read on the floor of the Senate today by the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio.
The list of non-career nominees features several prominent political figures, including former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu; former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode; former Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu; and a former presidential aide, Reno Omokri.
Others are Senator Ita Enang, a former Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi; Chioma Ohakim; Bello Danbazau; Vice Admiral Ibok Ete (retd.) and Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, among others.
Both lists have been referred to the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, which is expected to conduct the screening process and report back to the upper chamber within one week.
The new list of 65 nominees raises the total number of ambassadorial candidates before the Senate to 68.