Senate, PDP React To Appointment Of Buratai, Ex-Service Chiefs As Non-Career Ambassadors

The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has nominated all the service chiefs who were changed last week as non-career ambassadors.

The action drew the ire of a former Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Prof. Bola Akinterinwa, and the Peoples Democratic Party

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina had disclosed Buhari’s action in a statement on Thursday titled, ‘President Buhari nominates Olonisakin, Buratai, Ibas, Abubakar, Usman as non-career ambassadors.’

Adesina said their names have been sent to the Senate for confirmation.

The statement reads, “President Muhammadu Buhari has forwarded the names of the immediate past Service Chiefs to the Senate as non-career ambassadors-Designate.

“The nominees are Gen Abayomi G. Olonisakin (retd. ), Lt Gen Tukur Y. Buratai (retd), Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd.), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar (retd.), and Air Vice Marshal Mohammed Usman (retd.).”

Meanwhile, the Senate on Thursday, described as a welcome development, the appointment of the immediate past service chiefs as non-career ambassadors.

Reacting to the appointment of the former service in an interview with one of our correspondents on Thursday, the Senate spokesperson, Dr Basiru Ajibola, said the military generals deserved the honour.

He said, “The appointment of our former service chiefs as ambassadors by President Muhammadu Buhari, is a welcome development.

“The former service chiefs had done well for the country and they deserve whatever honour the President decides to bestow on them in appreciation of their meritorious service to their fatherland.”

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However, Akinterinwa said although Buhari had the right to nominate all the service chiefs as non-career ambassadors, there was no assurance that countries like the United States and the United Kingdom who had accused the service chiefs of crimes against humanity would accept the former service chiefs as diplomats.

He spoke on a PUNCH Online interview on Thursday.

He said, “It is only in Nigeria where a carpenter will want to perform the work of a pilot and where a pilot will want to go into surgical operation to perform cardiothoracic operation.

“When you bring somebody who is perfectly trained to kill to come and engage in diplomatic negotiations at a critical time that globalisation is now a major issue, I think that Mr President is making haste slowly and in this case, he is killing diplomatic initiatives well in advance, this is killing Nigeria softly.

“The main problem any of the (former) service chiefs may have is that the international community have been speculating that they have violated human right, that under their watch some people have been killed recklessly without due regard to both international law and international humanitarian law.

“It depends on the country they will be posted to. If you send a service chief as an ambassador to the United States for instance, what will you expect? US is one of the countries that have accused the service chiefs of having violated human rights. Do you think they will be able to survive in that case in terms of negotiating skill? Not likely. If you send them to Britain, the same thing.

The former NIIA director general said Nigeria needed diplomatic careerists to engage in diplomatic negotiations, adding that political or non-career ambassadors had bastardised Nigeria’s diplomacy and foreign policy objectives.

Also, the PDP alleged that the nomination was a plot by the Presidency and the All Progressives Congress to shield the immediate past service chiefs from investigation over the alleged killing of innocent Nigerians and crimes against humanity under their watch.

The PDP in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, titled, ‘Ambassadorial nomination: PDP rejects moves to shield ex-service chiefs from investigation’, on Thursday, said, “The PDP charges the Senate to eschew all partisan considerations and stand on the side of the people, particularly the victims of atrocious regime of the ex-service chiefs by rejecting the demand by President Muhammadu Buhari to confirm them as ambassadors.

“It is indeed sacrilegious and a horrible assault on the sensibility of Nigerians that the APC government is seeking to use ambassadorial appointments as desperate measure to secure diplomatic immunity for the former commanders and protect them from investigation, arrest and possible prosecution by the International Criminal Court for the atrocities committed against innocent Nigerians under their command. “The PDP asserts that appointing the former service chiefs as ambassadors would confer diplomatic immunity on them and provide them a route for escape.”

PUNCH